Lovers' Ships
by AL19
Summary: Rina has been a fan of ships since she was small. She's had no parents and has been homeless since then, but has been looking for a ship to live in. What happens when she meets the laughing stock of the Kaientai ship?
1. The eyes of a laughing idiot

**This is actually a rewrite. I wrote the original one back in January and posted it on Deviantart, but I've decided to rewrite this. Please read the authors notes at the end of this chapter, because it's kind of important. Enjoy!**

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I've always been a fan of ships, ever since I was small. And someday, I would hope to live in one.

My name is Rina. I am in my early twenties, and I had an okay, but not great life. I have short, orange-brown hair, where the ends of my hair were curled up, and I also had brown eyes. I wore a brown kimono, but the strap was black and narrow.

As I said before, I never really had a great life. And the reason for that was because my parents died when I was four. Because of that, I don't remember my last name. I only know my first name. The only things that I remember when I was four were when my deceased parents said my name a lot of times, and when they told me when was my birthday. So I was able to remember when exactly my birthday was, and what age I was.

Aside that, I've loved ships, and whenever I would take a look at them, I would smile. Like I said, I would one day live in a ship, and travel in space.

Ever since my parents had died, I was alone. But I found this somewhat worn-out building called the "Homeless Building", where people who are homeless "live" there. When I was on my own at the age of four, a man, who is apparently the owner of the building (And a worker) asked where my parents were. I only told him that I didn't have any. He pitied me, so he decided to let me stay in the homeless building. I've been "living" there since.

The strange thing about it was that I was the only female there. It was weird, but I got used to it.

It was early morning, and I woke up, full of energy. Actually, I wake up every morning, full of energy. And there's a reason why.

There's a place called the "Tour of Ships", and ever since I was a teenager, I've been going there every day (Unless there's bad weather), looking at all kinds of ships. If I were to find the "perfect" ship, then I would decide to live there. But then again, I was never so sure if I would be able to live in one, since the Tour of Ships is about giving people tours. I never even tried to ask each leader of each ship if anyone could live in the ship, because I always feel embarrassed to ask that.

I walked out of my room, and as I put my sandals on, I heard the owner saying my name.

"Morning, Rina-Chan."

I blinked my brown eyes, and turned my head around, only to see the owner, who was named Kotoro. He had short, bluish-gray hair, with dark-blue eyes, which almost looked black. He wasn't really old, but he was almost in his forties. Kotaro wore a gray top kimono, with black pants, and a short, green apron.

I smiled at him, and said, "Good morning, Kotoro-San."

He asked, "Are you heading to the Tour of Ships?"

I nodded at him. "I am. I'll be back in a while. See you later, Kotoro-San!"

He waved at me as I ran out of the homeless building. I ran, but slowed down.

I thought, _I've been wondering for years now…can I ever live in a ship, even if the ships are supposed to be toured by crew members?_

I closed my brown eyes half-way, and soon, I was at the Tour of Ships. There were ships everywhere as usual. I smiled big as I whispered to myself, "Now to get a tour." With that, I began to walk to one of the ships.

The first ship that I entered was a reddish-brown ship, which looked a bit dull. But just because it's dull on the outside, doesn't mean it's dull on the inside as well.

I saw a group of people, about to enter the ship, but I widened my eyes, dashing towards the group. They were probably being toured by the crew members. I didn't stop running until I caught up with the group.

As we walked up the wooden board, we all entered the ship in a matter of seconds. We were starting to walk in the hall of the ship, and the crew member explained, "So…here, we have cobwebs on the ceilings. Yeah, I know, we're lazy." I raised a brow up, but he continued to explain in a gloomy tone, "And we also have rusty metal, which is apparently crap."

He ruffled his hair, but I stopped, thinking, _I should get out of here._

I slowly turned around, making sure that I wasn't spotted, as to seeing me leave before the tour was over. Thankfully, I managed to get out before anyone saw me leave. I ran down the wooden board while shaking my head.

_I'm not going to live in that ship. Then again, it wouldn't be easy for me to live in one anyway. I really need to ask if it would be possible for me to live in one, because I won't ever know unless I ask!_

A sigh escaped my lips as I walked through the Tour of Ships. I blinked, looking at a different ship. But I noticed that there was a woman, having a confrontation with a man, right as they were entering the orange-and-light-green colored ship. I stopped walking for a moment, watching them as the woman shouted at the man, "DON'T SAY THAT I'M DRUNK, YOU PIG!"

The man shouted back, "BUT YOU REALLY ARE DRUNK, LADY! I'M SORRY, BUT YOU CAN'T BE IN THIS TOUR IF YOU'RE DRUNK!"

She slapped him on the face, and I knew for a second that they were going to have a fight. I rolled my eyes, and decided to ignore them, because it was none of my business. I heard them scream at each other, but I didn't bother to look back at them.

I sighed once again as I ruffled my orange-brown hair. I muttered under my breath, "Some people." My head shook as I looked at yet another ship.

But this ship was red, and it looked a bit more unusual than the other ships that I've seen. I raised a brow, but quickly walked towards it.

As I was getting closer to it, I saw a man, who had brown curly hair, with sunglasses. There was also a woman beside him, who wore a purple "cape", and a head cover. She was pretty much arguing with him because she sounded a bit angry towards him. Then, she grabbed his scarf, and basically lifted him up off the ground (Well, slightly).

When I was a few feet in front of them, I cleared my throat, making it loud enough for them to hear me. The woman stopped speaking to him, and she turned her head quickly, seeing that I was standing in front of them.

She let go of his scarf, and said nonchalantly, "Hello. Would you like a tour?"

I giggled a bit, and nodded my head while giving them a smile. The man with the brown curly hair exclaimed, "Ooh! We finally get to give someone a tour! Ahahahaha!"

The woman had an anger mark on her cheek, and she muttered to him, "The reason why _nobody_ wanted a tour here was because your stupid laugh was annoying them!"

"But I love laughing! Ahahahaha!"

I chuckled, and asked, "Am I getting a tour, or are you going to yell at him all day?"

She said, "My apologies. It's just that his brain is screwed by his laughter."

I blinked in confusion, but didn't reply to her. The two of them were walking in the ship, but I followed them. It seemed that I was the only person who was getting a tour in this ship, but it wasn't like I minded it.

As we were all walking in the hall, I looked around, seeing how spotless it was. I thought, _Hm, not bad. Not bad at all._

The man explained while still laughing, "Basically, the crew tends to clean up any messes in this ship! Ahahahaha!"

The woman muttered again, "I believe I can explain better, you idiot."

I furrowed my brows. I never really liked it when someone calls anybody else an idiot, unless they're doing really stupid things.

As I continued to follow them, another crew member exclaimed, "Mutsu-San! We have to leave now!"

I widened my eyes, and thought while slightly panicking, _Then I better get out of here!_

But it was too late. Before I even got the chance to leave the ship that I was in, I heard the big, metal door close. I widened my eyes again, only I was in more shock than ever. I turned chalk white, and could feel the ship moving upwards.

The woman, named Mutsu, muttered, "Oh…"

I thought, _Well, shit. I'm apparently trapped here now._

When the ship left the Tour of Ships, I walked to a wall, and sat down, bending my knees up, and landed my arms on my knees. I lowered my head down, sitting there in sulk. There was a sudden heavy atmosphere above my head, and it wouldn't go away. This really sucked. One minute, I was being toured, now the ship has left, and I wasn't able to get out of here on time.

I heard the curly-haired man say, "Miss…" I slowly lifted my head up, and saw the man crouching down, furrowing his brows slightly with a small smile on his face. He continued, "Sorry about that. It's just that we forgot that we had something important to do, so we had to leave."

I blinked, but my eyelids were half-way closed. I muttered, "Great…and now I'm stuck here."

He landed his hand on the back of his head, and said, "Ahahaha…my, the atmosphere feels heavy all of a sudden."

I sighed, and decided to stand up. The man said, "Since you're stuck here for the moment, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tatsuma Sakamoto, the leader of this crew, called the Kaientai."

I replied, "My name is Rina. Nice to meet you, Sakamoto-San."

The name of his crew isn't bad at all, in fact, I think it sounds cool. Tatsuma told me, "You can call me by my first name if you'd like, since the only people that call me by my last name is people I work with! Ahahahaha!"

I blinked, but said, "Alright then."

The woman introduced herself to me, "And my name is Mutsu. Tatsuma-San's sidekick, or at least, that's what he refers to me."

I chuckled a bit, and said, "Are you a leader as well?"

"You could say that. But even though Tatsuma-San is the actual leader, he tends to get into trouble, so I have to save his ass. Someday, his nuts will rot, and fall off if he doesn't take care of himself."

I widened my eyes at Mutsu. I made a cracked smile, and said, "Uh, I didn't really want to hear that."

She ignored me by asking Tatsuma, "Tatsuma-San, where are we supposed to meet them?"

I asked with a raised brow, "Meet who?"

Of course, nobody was answering me. Tatsuma laughed once again, "I believe somewhere between here and another rocky planet! Ahahahaha!"

"Meet who?" I asked again, getting more curious. But neither of them was still answering my question. And the more they ignored my question, the more eager I would become.

Mutsu replied to the man, "You should be more specific than that. And if you get into trouble again, you'll need to keep your zipper up."

This woman was a little confusing. But when they still didn't answer me, I clenched my teeth, and exclaimed out loud, "MEET WHO?!"

Realizing that I was a bit loud, I looked both ways, at the two of them, and saw that they were staring at me. I lowered my head down, feeling my cheeks flush in embarrassment.

But Tatsuma finally answered, "The guys who give us energy batteries! Ahahahaha!"

I sighed, and quietly said, "Thank you." My cheeks were still a bit red, but at least one of them answered.

Suddenly, Tatsuma took a few steps towards me, and he asked me with yet another laugh, "Rina-Chan, do you want to play with me?"

I widened my eyes in surprise. Did he really just ask me that?

Mutsu quickly walked towards him, and pulled out some sort of gun. She set the head of the gun in front of his face, and muttered darkly, "Don't ask her that stupid question, you curly-headed idiot."

He cracked a smile, but exclaimed, "Alright, alright. Ahahahaha!"

She put her gun away, but she turned her head to see me, and told me, "Get used to his laugh, because he laughs a lot."

I replied quietly, "O-Okay."

_Well, that was awkward._

I narrowed my brown eyes, staring at the floor. I thought again, _Even though she tells me that, I'm not exactly bothered by Tatsuma-San's laugh._

A while later, Tatsuma was suddenly barfing into a garbage can. "BLARRRFF!"

I had a feeling that he was feeling a little sick, so I landed my hand on his back, and asked, "Are you okay, Tatsuma-San?"

Mutsu informed me, "He tends to get space-sick, which means that he barfs a lot. Thankfully, not every day."

I made a cracked smile, and decided to ask Tatsuma, "Are you even a fan of ships, Tatsuma-San?"

He lifted himself up, and answered without laughing or looking at me, "I'm a huge fan of ships. But even when I'm a fan of them, they somehow make me throw up."

"I-I see," I replied. "Well, I'm a fan of ships as well! And I'm hoping to live in one someday!"

Tatsuma turned his head while asking, "Is that so?"

"Y-Yeah. It is a little embarrassing to say this, though. But I really do want to live in one! But I would rather get to know the crew first, then decide whether or not I want to live with them in their ship."

"How would that work if you're at the Tour of Ships, though?" Mutsu asked me.

I paused for a moment, but then answered, "You know, I'm not exactly sure. But perhaps I would see if the same ship would be there every day."

"Hm," Mutsu muttered quietly.

I lowered my head down again, but thought, realizing, _Kotoro-San is going to wonder where I am. Well, I don't want to be trapped here forever, so maybe I can ask Tatsuma-San or Mutsu-San when we can head back to Earth._

I didn't want to be selfish, but I really needed to be back at the homeless building before I was gone for days. I wouldn't want to worry Kotoro.

Suddenly, Tatsuma asked me, "Are you okay, Rina-Chan?"

I lifted my head up, replying to him, "Wh-What do you mean?"

"Your face is red." I blinked, but realized that my face was burning up. Perhaps I was embarrassed from telling them about me wanting to live in a ship.

Without warning, he landed his hand on my forehead. I jumped a bit, and exclaimed, "I-I was just embarrassed from telling you two all of this!"

Mutsu said, "It's actually understandable, Rina-Chan. You're a fan of ships as much as Tatsuma the laughing idiot, so there's no need to get embarrassed."

Tatsuma's hand wouldn't let go of my forehead. He asked while raising a brow up, "You're really hot. Are you sure you're fine?"

My heart was starting to beat faster. I exclaimed again, but a little louder, "Y-Yes, I'm fine! I already told you! I was just embarrassed from what I said just moments ago!"

He laughed as he removed his hand from my forehead, "So you're not sick after all! Ahahahaha!"

"What made you think I was sick?!"

"Well, it's obvious enough that your face is burning up! Ahahahaha!"

I stared at him as he stared back into my eyes. But he pushed his sunglasses up, and exclaimed, "And by the way, Rina-Chan, you aren't the only woman I've asked to play with me! Ahahahaha!"

I blinked, and thought, _Why did he ask other women to "play" with him? Did he want to "do it" with them?_

Without an answer in my head, Mutsu told him, "Tatsuma-San, that was very unnecessary. And the reason why so many women reject you is because your hair is all tangled up, plus it's poofy."

"Oh, stop saying such lies, Mutsu-San! My hair is just curly, like my old friends'! Ahahahaha!" He replied to the woman.

I thought yet again, _I don't think it's that poofy. He does have curled hair, though._

Mutsu added, "And it's also because your laugh is annoying everyone who walks pass you."

I said without thinking, "I don't mind his laugh."

Mutsu widened her eyes slightly at me, and asked with a raised brow, "Did you get used to it already?"

"I…I guess so." My face was starting to flush again. I didn't understand why this was happening to me, so I asked Mutsu, "Mutsu-San, where's the bathroom?"

She responded, "It's down the hall, to the right."

"Thank you," I replied as I began to run in the hall.

I went passed a few other crew members, but they gave me weird stares, as to why I was in here, when I was clearly not a member of the Kaientai. Well, I had a feeling that Mutsu or Tatsuma would explain the reason why I'm in this ship at the moment.

I found the bathroom, and as soon as I entered it, I closed the door, and stared at myself in the mirror. I widened my eyes at my reflection, wondering why I was still blushing.

I looked down at the sink, and thought, _Why am I still blushing? Could it be…?_

The one thought that came to my mind was me liking Tatsuma already. Liking as in…having a crush on him.

But I shook my head, yelling in my head, _No! That's not possible! I mean, we just met! I couldn't fall in love with Tatsuma-San that fast! But…he landed his hand on my forehead. Wait, stop confusing yourself, Rina!_

I slapped my forehead, trying to get clear on what I was saying. But that barely helped. I sighed as my blush wouldn't go away.

A few hours later, I was ready to go to bed. But first, I had to figure out where I would sleep, since I'm in this ship that's flying in space.

I walked up to Mutsu, and asked her, "Mutsu-San, is there some place I can sleep?"

She answered in a nonchalant tone (Like earlier), "As a matter of fact, there is. Follow me." Mutsu began to walk, and I followed her.

Mutsu sort of explained as we were walking through the hall, "We have a guest room down the hall. We originally used it to store boxes of paperwork, but we gave them to other crews, who work for us. So now, it's empty."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because Tatsuma-San was stupid enough to not do it."

"Mutsu-San…whenever you say he's stupid, or call him an idiot, it sounds like you hate him."

She stopped walking for a moment, and turned her head to the side. Mutsu responded in a low tone, "It's not that I hate the leader of the Kaientai crew; it's just that he's always getting himself into trouble, despite being a leader. Plus, he's too optimistic. He should take things seriously."

I furrowed my brows slightly as she turned her head back, continuing to walk. I thought, _Earlier, she said that people are annoyed by him because he laughs too much. Why does it feel like I'm the only person that doesn't even mind it? Is he…lonely?_

Mutsu opened up a door. She said, "Here's the guest room."

I decided to ask the woman, "Mutsu-San, when are we heading back to Earth?"

She questioned back, "Do you have to get home?"

"Well, it's not really a home, but I 'live' at a building, where homeless people stay."

"You're homeless?" Mutsu questioned again, but widened her eyes a bit.

I nodded my head as I scratched my cheek. "I am. My parents died when I was small, so the only place I could go was the homeless building. I've 'lived' there ever since then."

"I see." That's all Mutsu could say. But she finally answered my previous question, "We can head back to Earth tomorrow. But first, we have to meet up with the guys that we mentioned earlier."

"Right," I muttered under my breath. I walked into the guest room, and looked around it.

Mutsu told me, "Now get some sleep."

I nodded my head as she closed the door. The room was prettier than the room I sleep in at the homeless building. But thankfully, the inside of the homeless building looks better on the inside than on the outside.

I blinked, and saw a closet. I walked over to the closet, and opened it, seeing a futon in it. I smiled a bit as I took the futon out.

When I set it down on the middle of the floor, I noticed that there were plaid prints on it. I gave out a chuckle as I thought, _I haven't slept in a futon since my parents passed away, so this feels a bit exciting._

It's true. I haven't slept in any futon since I was small. There weren't any futons at the homeless building; in fact, there were sleeping bags, with pillows. I prefer futons than sleeping bags.

I took off my sandals, and placed them beside the futon just before turning off the light. I then walked over to the futon, and knelled down, sliding into the blanket. There, I closed my eyes, drifting to sleep.

But when I was starting to dream, I thought about Tatsuma. I thought about him landing his hand on my forehead. I didn't really believe that he was worried about me being sick since we just met (And he thought I was sick), but for some damn reason, my face wouldn't stop flushing earlier.

As I continued to dream, I suddenly felt two fingers, twirling my short, orange-brown hair. At first, I thought I was still dreaming, but I wouldn't be feeling it if it was still a dream. So I decided to open up my brown eyes.

I saw a figure lying down beside the futon. I was a little confused, but when I opened them up completely, I saw Tatsuma lying down, staring at me.

I widened my eyes, now knowing that Tatsuma was watching me sleep.

I lifted myself up, and shout, "T-TATSUMA-SAN?! W-WHY WERE YOU WATCHING ME SLEEP?!"

He stood up quickly, and exclaimed while landing his hand on the back of his head, "I thought I left something in here, but when I came in here, I noticed that you were not only sleeping in here, but you suddenly whispered my name while you were sleeping! Ahahahaha!"

My eyes widened again, only when he said that I said his name while I was sleeping, I thought with confusion, _Wait, did I really say his name in my sleep?_

I exclaimed back, "But why were you touching my hair?!"

He laughed once again, "I thought you wanted me to do that, so I did it! Ahahahaha!"

The second he said that, the door opened again, only it was Mutsu. She shouted at him, "TATSUMA-SAN, I'M GONNA KILL YOU FOR WATCHING HER SLEEP!"

He smiled, and dashed out of the guest room while Tatsuma was still laughing. Mutsu said to me, "I'll make sure he doesn't do that again." She closed the door, and chased after Tatsuma.

I looked down at the blanket, but decided to try to go back to sleep. I thought again, _What made him think I wanted him to touch my hair? He doesn't know me! But…if I did say his name in my sleep, why did I do that then?_

As I pulled the blanket up to my nose, I began to blush again.

_Do I…really like Tatsuma?_

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**Like I said, I wrote the original back in January. And since I've put my OC, Rina, in "Two Worlds, One Life" and in "Don't Cause Chaos", I've chosen to rewrite this story, and post this up on FF. So yes, this is where Rina was _first_ introduced. And I apologize for slightly rushing the beginning of this chapter.**

**I've changed a few things from the original. Here's one: For Kotoro, the man who runs the homeless building, when I first wrote this story, I never gave him a name. But as for the rewrite, I decided to give him one. **

**And the reason why I made Tatsuma ask Rina to "play with him" was because in the anime, he was always asking girls to "play with him". So yeah. :P But whenever I hear him say that, it makes me wonder, "Doesn't that make him lonely?" That's one reason why I chose to write this story in the first place. And at the last part, in case anyone was wondering, Tatsuma doesn't have feelings for Rina, at least, not in the beginning of this story.**

**The original had seven chapters. Well, this will still be seven chapters, but I will still rewrite the whole story. And don't get me wrong; I like Tatsuma and Mutsu as a couple, but not so much that I would write a story about them, or even read stories about them. This story will probably be the only one that I'll ever rewrite.**

**I'm pretty sure not very people will care about this story, since apparently, there are very few huge fans of Tatsuma (Like me. LOL), but I don't care. I just post my stories to _share_. Not for wanting to get reviews, because in my opinion, I don't think reviews are that important. **

**Keep in mind that Rina is not me, despite that I love Tatsuma Sakamoto with all my heart. Another reason why I wrote this in the first place is because Tatsuma is a _very_ underrated character in Gintama.**

**One more thing: I've realized that I made a few of my OC's have no parents. LOL **

**Okay, I think I should stop talking for now. If you love Tatsuma as much as I do, then I hoped for enjoyed reading the first chapter of "Lovers' Ships". :)**


	2. Being drunk can make your vision blur

**Here's the second chapter of this rewrite!**

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I was sleeping in the guest room in the Kaientai ship. Tatsuma was suddenly watching me sleep, and he was feeling my hair! I thought it was weird, but did I…really have feelings for Tatsuma? If so, then I wouldn't be able to understand myself because we just met. How could I have feelings for him already?

While I was sleeping, I couldn't stop thinking of Tatsuma. He is a nice guy, and yet he's optimistic. I never thought that was a bad thing, but why did he ask me to play with him earlier? And why did he ask other women, before me, the same thing? Could it be that he is…lonely? If so, then I felt really bad for him.

I didn't exactly know how long I was sleeping, but I heard a yell by my ear. Well, not right next to my ear.

"WAKE UP, SLEEPYHEAD! AHAHAHAHA!"

Immediately, my brown eyes widened, and I leaned up, screaming because he just scared me. I asked loudly, "Tatsuma-San! Did you really have to yell?!"

"Kind of," He answered with a smile on his face.

I replied with a raised brow, "What do you mean 'kind of'?"

"Just get up! Ahahahaha! And we managed to meet up with the guys we mentioned yesterday, so we can go back to Earth today!"

My eyes blinked, but I asked Tatsuma, "Did Mutsu-San tell you about me being homeless?"

He nodded his head. "She did. I do feel pity for you, but at least there's a building for homeless people, right?"

It was my turn to nod my head. I responded, "Yes, there is. I'm just glad I don't live in the streets. When, today, are we going back to Edo?"

"We'll be arriving very soon. Mutsu-San asked me if you were hungry."

"Oh, well, yes, I am," I said, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. I didn't know why, but my cheeks were starting to burn again. Tatsuma looked like he was staring at me, but I looked away from him, as if not letting him see my red face. The good news, though, was that he didn't mention anything about it.

Instead, he told me, "Get ready, because we'll be arriving Edo in a few minutes."

I gave him a nod as he walked out of the guest room. The second he closed the sliding door, I quickly got out of the futon that I was sleeping in. I picked it up, and sort of dashed to the closet, opening it, and then putting the futon away.

When I closed the closet door, I grabbed my sandals, and put them on. Soon, I dashed out of the guest room, but I felt the ship going all bumpy.

I blinked my eyes a few times as Mutsu said to me, "Morning, Rina-Chan."

"Oh, morning," I replied with a half-smile.

She turned her head to the side, and told me, "Hold on tight. The ride's about to get bumpy."

I looked both ways, but couldn't find anything to hold onto without falling to the ground. So I slowly walked forward, seeing Tatsuma and Mutsu standing beside each other. Other crew members of the Kaientai were controlling the ship, and when I was close to them, I felt my cheeks burn once again.

I thought, _Dammit, what is wrong with me?!_

A gulp went down my throat, but I managed to say to Tatsuma, "G-Good morning, Tatsuma-San."

He looked down at me, and replied with a smile, "Ah, good morning, Rina-Chan! Ahahahaha! Hold on tight!"

"That's what Mutsu-San told me," I muttered.

The ship was heading back to Earth, but I still had to make sure that I would fall on the floor. So I just stood up, and stood still while Tatsuma was standing with his hands on his hips. Mutsu, on the other hand, just had her hands beside her. Well, since she had that "cape" on her, I was never so sure. But that's not important.

As we were arriving back at Edo, the "ride" was getting even bumpier. I widened my eyes while trying to stand up straight. Tatsuma, unfortunately, fell on the floor, and landed on the ground by his butt. He muffled, "OOF!"

I blinked as I tried to help him up. I asked him, "Are you okay, Tatsuma-San?"

Mutsu said without looking at me, "Don't worry about him. He's a clumsy, optimistic leader."

I thought again, _I'm not so sure if that's supposed to be a compliment or an insult. I know she told me she doesn't hate him, but is she annoyed by him as well as a lot of other people?_

Furrowing my brows, we were just about to reach a wooden platform, but the ship accidentally hit the wooden platform, which caused the platform to slightly break. Tatsuma said with his hand behind his head, "Woops! Ahahahaha!"

As he finally got up, I took a step away from him, and could feel my honest heart pound softly.

_I don't understand. Why do I feel uncomfortable being around Tatsuma-San?_

We were able to come to a complete stop. Tatsuma exclaimed with his hands in the air, "We're here!"

I smiled a little, but Mutsu still had that straight look on her face. Can't she ever smile?

The three of us were walking out of the ship, and Mutsu asked me, "Rina-Chan, do you know a place where we could eat breakfast?"

I asked in slight confusion, "Why is that?"

"We don't come to Edo very often, so we don't know that many restaurants or diners in this city."

"Oh, I see. Well, I know one. Should you follow me?"

She nodded, and Tatsuma ran beside me. He exclaimed again, "Boy, what lovely wind! Ahahahaha! Rina-Chan, let's go eat! I'm hungry!"

"S-Same here," I said quietly. Mutsu and Tatsuma followed me, but I was still beside the two. I narrowed my eyes, but asked them, "Um, I hope it won't be too much trouble."

Mutsu used her index finger to push up her head cover. She asked with a raised brow, "Why do you say that?"

My face flushed with slightly embarrassment, but I answered her question, "Because I don't want the bill to be expensive."

"Don't worry. You leave that to us. As long as we don't get anything too expensive, we'll take care of the bill."

She was still not smiling. I wondered, _Doesn't she ever smile? Oh well. I guess she's not happy at the moment._

Moments later, we arrived at a café. One that I knew it wasn't expensive. The décor wasn't the best, but it wasn't all bad. The three of us sat down at a table, and a waitress handed us menus. I opened it up, and Tatsuma suddenly asked me, "Rina-Chan, how long have you been homeless?"

I stared at the menu that I was holding, but answered his question, "Since I was four."

"That's a young age."

"I know," I sighed.

Another waitress came by, asking us what we wanted. The three of us said what we wanted, and then she took the menus, heading over to the kitchen.

I sighed once more as I thought, _Kotoro-San is probably worried sick about me. He's been taking care of me since I first arrived at the homeless building. I wouldn't want to make him worry._

We got our food about 15 minutes later. I began to eat my food with my fork, but Tatsuma was about to take a huge bite of what he was about to eat. Before he filled his mouth with a big pile of food, I asked him politely, "Tatsuma-San, can you not take big bites? I don't want you to choke."

He stopped at what he was doing, and he took some of the food off of his fork. He replied, "It's a bad habit of me taking big bites. Ahahahaha! But thanks for worrying."

"Y-You're welcome," I stammered again.

Mutsu took off her head cover, and asked me, "Do you want to go back to the homeless building when we're done eating breakfast, or do you want to hang out with us?"

"What do you mean?" I asked back.

She said, "We're going to do a few errands. Though, I'm not exactly sure why I asked you that."

"Oh, I would love to hang out with you and Tatsuma-San more! In fact, I kind of want to get to know you two better."

"I see," She replied quietly. "Alright then. You can hang out with us until we head back to the ship."

I nodded at her as I continued to eat my breakfast.

When we were done, Mutsu and Tatsuma paid the bill (Well, Mutsu paid most of it, Tatsuma barely had any money left), and they were going to do a few errands. I wondered what kind of errands they would do.

The first errand that we did was going to this ladies' store, filled with girly stuff, such as bras and underwear, and other stuff that were for women. Tatsuma had to wait outside, because it would feel awkward if a guy came into a ladies' lingerie store, even though this store didn't just have lingerie.

I asked Mutsu, "I don't mean to be rude, but you don't seem that girly."

"I'm not," She responded as she picked up a hair dryer. "But I do want a get a few things from this place. Such as this hair dryer. My last hair dryer broke because Tatsuma somehow broke it. I nearly shot him in the leg, but he was lucky because he was able to dodge it."

"Uh, Mutsu-San, that's kind a cruel of you to do so."

"I know, but he was an idiot at the time. Actually, he's still an idiot."

My brows furrowed again. I ruffled my short, orange-brown hair as I sighed, "Aren't there times where he's not an idiot?"

Mutsu turned her head to look at me, and answered in a low tone, "When he gets serious, or when he uses his gun, then he's not an idiot."

My eyes widened in a bit of surprise. I didn't realize he had a gun. I said, "That's interesting. By the way, what color are his eyes?" That's when I found out that I asked a question that was completely unnecessary.

I covered my mouth with my right hand, but my tongue already slipped. Once I've said something, I can't take something back. It's already been said, and what happens, happens.

The woman turned her body around, giving me a suspicious look. I was still covering my mouth, but I didn't remove my hand from my lips. Mutsu stared at me, and asked, "Rina-Chan…are you that curious about his eye color?"

My face tilted down, averting my gaze away from Mutsu. I felt so embarrassed; I couldn't give her eye contact. But she said, "You'll find out his eye color somehow. He always wears those weird sunglasses, but his eyes do show sometimes."

I finally removed my hand from my mouth, but I didn't say a thing. I thought, _She's right. I am curious about Tatsuma-San's eye color. But I still don't know what's wrong with me! Maybe…I am in love with Tatsuma-San!_

She went up to the cash register, and then bought herself the hair dryer.

The two of us were now out of the store, and Tatsuma said with his hand behind his head again, "Oh, so you bought a hair dryer! Ahahahaha! Mutsu-San, are you still angry at me for breaking your last one?"

"I'm not answering that at the moment," Mutsu immediately responded to the brown, curly-haired man.

Tatsuma shed a sweat drop, down his cheek. He made a cracked smile, but I patted his arm, trying to comfort him, "Tatsuma-San, I'm sure it was an accident. Mutsu-San may forgive you."

Mutsu said to me without turning her head, "Who knows if I'll forgive him or not? He needs to be more careful, or else his balls will fall off."

"Why're you talking about his body parts again?! That doesn't even make any sense!"

"We still have a few more errands to run. Come on, you two, I don't have all day."

I rolled my eyes as Tatsuma and I were catching up to Mutsu. Yep, she was ignoring at what I just said to her. It doesn't make much sense that she was talking about a private part in the males' body when we were just talking about a hair dryer.

We were at a different building, and this time, it was a tall building. I looked up, seeing how high it went. But as I was staring high up, Tatsuma pushed my arm, exclaiming, "Don't just stare off into space, Rina-Chan! Ahahahaha!"

I blushed yet again, and followed them. When we entered the building, there was a man, who said, "Ah, Sakamoto-San, Mutsu-San. Are you here for your payment?"

"We are," Mutsu answered. "We finished the job you told us to do, so pay us."

He chuckled, "Alright then." He ruffled through his suit, and then pulled out a stack of money. I widened my eyes once again, but was amazed at how much Mutsu and Tatsuma were getting. As soon as Mutsu grabbed the stack of money, we were now leaving as quickly as we came in. The man said, "Bye."

Neither of them waved back, but we were out of the building.

_I don't really care what they did to earn it, but that's a big stack of money!_

A few hours later, it was getting dark. I was actually worried that I was worrying Kotoro so much. Tatsuma suddenly exclaimed, "I'm going to the bar, and get a drink! Ahahahaha!"

I stared at him, but heard Mutsu say to me, "You can hang out with him if you want; I'm going back to the ship."

"You're not coming with us?" I asked, wondering why she decided to not go to the bar with us. Though, I don't drink alcohol.

She shook her head as she said, "When he's done drinking, just bring him back to the ship, okay?"

Mutsu was walking back to the Kaientai ship. I furrowed my brows as Tatsuma grabbed my wrist, making me yelp. He exclaimed, "Let's go, Rina-Chan! Ahahahaha!"

He pulled me, making me run with him. I thought, _How come she's not coming with us? Is Tatsuma-San crazy when he's drunk?_

As Tatsuma continued to pull my wrist, I told him, "T-Tatsuma-San, you're starting to hurt my wrist!" He turned his head around, and when he noticed that he was still pulling on my wrist, he finally let go.

Tatsuma didn't stop, but he was walking now. He said, "Sorry, Rina-Chan. I just love drinking. Ahahahaha!"

I made a small smile.

Still wondering why Mutsu went back to the ship before Tatsuma did, we arrived at a bar, where there was other guys getting drunk off their butts. I rolled my eyes at them as I thought, _This is why I don't drink. It causes stupidity._

Kotoro once told me that drinking alcohol can lead to a bit of trouble. I sort of understood what he meant by that, but he told me that when I was almost an adult.

When Tatsuma and I entered the bar, he quickly walked to one table, where there was a bottle of alcohol already.

I muttered to myself while raising a brow, "Talk about obsession with sake and other alcohol."

Tatsuma gave me a big smile, and asked me, "Want some beer, Rina-Chan?"

I shook my head as I responded, "No thank you."

"More for me, then! Ahahahaha!" He laughed out loud as he sat down, opening the bottle of beer. It was a clear, dark bottle, so I could see how much beer was in it.

Before Tatsuma began to drink, there was a bar waitress that was about to pass us. Tatsuma noticed the woman, and turned his head around, asking, "Hey, pretty lady! Do you want to play with me when you're done working?"

The woman closed her eyes, smiling, but I didn't think it was the good kind of smile. Without warning Tatsuma, she poured a bowl of water on his head, and replied in English, "No thank you."

She passed the two of us, and I furrowed my brows, staring at Tatsuma, who's head was now all wet. He closed his mouth for a moment, and then said, "Well, that didn't work out! Ahahahaha!"

Since he was always asking girls this question, I decided to ask him, "Tatsuma-San, why do you ask women to 'play' with you?"

He slightly tilted his head down, and without laughing this time, he explained a bit briefly, "Because…I'm alone. I usually ask girls to play with me because I'm always alone. Even Mutsu won't try to cheer me up, because she thinks I'm too optimistic." My mouth parted, but I was silent. Tatsuma started drinking the beer, but as the top of the bottle drifted away his lips, he added, "Sometimes I drink to forget my loneliness."

My eyes widened a bit, and I continued to furrow my brows at him. I thought in my head, _So it's true. He really is lonely. I can pretty much understand why he's lonely, but…he needs someone…to comfort him and such._

He landed the top of the bottle on his lips again, but lifted the bottle up high, making his head go back. He drank the beer, and didn't stop until it was nearly empty. He sort of slammed the bottle down, and told a waitress, "Waitress! Another bottle, please! Ahahahaha!"

The waitress gave him another bottle of beer. Tatsuma quickly opened it, but said to himself as his sunglasses were lowered down, "I want to forget I'm lonely right now."

As I looked at his eyes, I found out the color to them. They were blue, the color of the sky. But when I stared into them, my mouth parted again, and I thought, _His eyes…they're so beautiful!_

His eyes were beautiful. I didn't know why I thought of that.

Tatsuma drank down the second bottle of beer, but when he set it down; he hiccupped, and was starting to move side to side. It seemed that he was getting drunk.

When he gave out a sluggish laugh, his head fell to the table. He was obviously drunk from drinking too much beer. Wait, would drinking two whole bottles of beer make you drunk? Well, whether it did or not, I would still not want to drink.

I sighed as I shook my head. I told him as I got up from my seat, "I think you've had enough to drink."

I grabbed hold of his arm, and I managed to wrap his arm around my shoulder, since he was drunk. I thought, _I'm going to take him back to his ship, then I'll go back to the homeless building._

As I kept hold of his wrist, we walked out of the bar (Even though we didn't pay the bill), and I was now bringing him back to his ship, the Kaientai.

When I knitted my brows slightly, I noticed that Tatsuma was starting to move his own hand. But he reached his hand towards my face. As I noticed this, my brown eyes start to widen, and I didn't even know what he was going to do…until he landed his hand on my cheek.

He sluggishly said while still drunk, "Marry me, Oryou."

I raised a brow in confusion, and asked, "Who's Oryou?"

Of course, he didn't answer my question. He said again, "Let's get married, and have three kids."

"Who the hell is Oroyu?!" I asked once more, only being more curious.

_Who is this Oryou he's talking about?! Do I look like her, or does Tatsuma-San have blurry vision?!_

His right hand started to rub my cheek, and suddenly, Tatsuma was beginning to move his face closer to mine.

My eyes widened again, but I yelled in my head, _FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NOW I WANT TO KNOW WHO THIS ORYOU IS!_

Then, before I knew it, Tatsuma kissed me on the lips. I blinked my eyes, but then squinted them seconds later. Tatsuma's lips were soft and warm, but…

_Dear god, I can taste the beer from his mouth! But…he's kissing me…_

A moment later, he drifted his lips away from mine. I could hear my own heart beat rapidly, and even though Tatsuma didn't know that he kissed me instead of this Oryou, I knew something now.

I thought, _I love him. I…love Tatsuma-San._

But I had to bring him back to his ship, so I did.

From what seemed like a while, I was able to take him back to his ship. I saw Mutsu standing on the wooden platform, and she asked me, "He's drunk, isn't he?"

I nodded my head. She took a few steps forward before taking Tatsuma away from me. Mutsu said, "It was nice meeting you, Rina-Chan." I could only nod at her again, since my mouth wouldn't open up.

I turned my body around, and began to run towards the homeless building.

I yelled in my head once more, _Tatsuma-San kissed me! TATSUMA-SAN KISSED ME!_

I finally came back to the homeless building, but when I entered it, I heard Kotoro exclaim at me, "Where have you been, Rina?! I was worried about you! You didn't come back since yesterday!"

My cheeks were starting to burn up, but I explained to the worker of building, "Kotoro-San, I went to the Tour of Ships, but when I entered one; the ship was leaving, which meant that I was trapped there until the next day."

"Were there any criminals there?" He asked all worriedly.

I chuckled, "No, Kotoro-San."

He sighed, "Good." Kotoro opened up his eyes, but raised a brow at me before asking, "Rina-Chan, why is your face red?"

I yelped a bit, surprised that he even asked me that question. I felt my cheeks, and they were burning like hell. He was right, I was turning red.

My teeth bit my lower lip for a few seconds before I managed to reply, "I ran here."

"Oh, I see. Well, good-night, Rina-Chan."

"Good-night," I said as I quickly walked to my room.

As I went in my room, I felt my cheeks again, and thought, _I can't believe Tatsuma-San kissed me! What am I going to say to him next time I see him?!_

* * *

**Just so you know, Tatsuma didn't notice that he actually kissed Rina instead of Oryou.**

**By the way, I know that in the real history, Ryoma Sakamoto married a woman named Oryou (Was that her real name? Oh well, I don't care.), but in the anime, I don't like the pairing of Tatsuma and Oryou. Besides, Oryou always, and I mean ALWAYS, kicks Tatsuma in the crotch whenever he yells at her, "MARRY ME, ORYOU-CHAN~!" So yeah. **

**I forgot to mention this, but in the original, I had Rina's hair light-brown (Still keeping the length of her hair. ;)), but I decided to change the color. Though, I never mentioned it in the original (Only in the description). Never mind that. **

**Just five more chapters to rewrite, and then I'll be done with this. And another thing: I'm going to add some stuff that weren't in the original. But if you never even read the original, then it doesn't matter, right?**

**Well, I'll make sure to make the rewrite better than the original.**


	3. Telling the truth is really embarrassing

**Here's the third chapter of this rewrite!**

* * *

I was sleeping in my sleeping bag, at the Homeless building. Not too long ago, Tatsuma was drunk, and without expecting it, he kissed me on the lips! And the only reason why he kissed me was because he thought I was this woman named Oryou.

I really don't know who this Oryou woman is, but perhaps I could ask Tatsuma about it the next time I saw him. But…what would he say if I were to tell him that he kissed me and not Oryou?

Well, right now, I had to sleep, though I had a little bit of trouble because my face was so hot.

The next morning, I heard birds chirp from outside, since my window was slightly opened. I gave out a yawn as I leaned up, rubbing my right eye with my fist. I opened my eyes half-way, and thought, _Last night was a bit awkward._

I decided to get out of the sleeping bag, and put it away. When I was done doing that, I decided to just take a walk today (After I was done eating breakfast, of course). I didn't really feel like going to the Tours of Ships today, simply because I felt too embarrassed to see Tatsuma at the moment. Yeah, I wasn't really ready to tell him what really happened the night before.

I went into the not-so-big cafeteria, and saw my friend, named Hashiro. His skin was a little darker than mine, plus he had short dark-brown hair, which was almost black. His eyes were black, and they were small. He wore a room-wear kimono, which had the mixture of purple and blue.

Another yawn escaped my mouth as I grabbed a tray, walking to the food section. I grabbed some food, and when I was done with that, I walked over to the table that Hashiro was sitting in.

I sat down slowly, across from Hashiro. He noticed me, and lifted his head up, saying with a smile on his face, "Good morning, Rina-Chan!"

I replied in a somewhat dull tone, "Morning, Hashiro-San."

He raised a brown brow at me, asking, "Are you okay, Rina-Chan? You don't seem like yourself."

"I'm fine," I replied as I began to eat my breakfast.

Hashiro continued to raise his brow at me while asking again, "Are you sure? I overheard you and Kotoro-Kun talking last night, so I heard him say that you were red."

I snapped, "I'm fine! Don't ask anymore!" I wasn't loud enough to attract attention from the other homeless people here (Which I was glad since I'm not used to so much attention), but Hashiro stared at me with wide eyes, which made me turn red from embarrassment.

I apologized, "Sorry. I just didn't want to keep saying that."

"That's alright," He replied with a laugh as he patted my head with his hand. Hashiro was taller, and a little more muscular than I was (Aside from that fact that we're different genders), so his hand nearly covered the top of my head since it was bigger than my own hand.

Whenever he would pat my head, I would pout because his pats were a little rough. Well, at least he hasn't hurt me.

We both continued to eat our breakfast, and we were both silent. At least it wasn't an awkward silence this time, because the situation with Tatsuma kissing me was awkward enough.

As soon as I finished my food completely, I stood up, and placed the tray along with the other dirty trays. I turned, and walked past Hashiro.

When I walked passed him, he asked with curiosity, "Where're you going?"

I answered as I stopped briefly, "I'm going to take a walk."

"Are you going to the Tour of Ships again?"

I shook my head. "Not today. I just want some fresh air."

"Alright then," He said quietly. "Take care, and be safe."

"Thanks." A chuckle escaped my lips as I continued to walk, out of the cafeteria. Soon, I walked out of the building completely.

My feet stopped while I looked both ways. I blinked my brown eyes as I scratched my short, orange-brown hair. I sighed, and I began to take my walk.

While I was walking down the street, I saw a Shinsengumi officer arresting a man while the man was drunk. I shook my head, thinking, _Idiots. I wouldn't be surprised if he disturbed the property._

I also saw a woman carrying a box, which had red wrapping paper all over it. I thought again, _Ah, it's a present for a special someone._

Right after my thought, I widened my eyes, realizing, _If Tatsuma ever loved me, then maybe he would be my "special someone". But then again, he apparently loves Oryou, not me._

Even if I would be rejected, I wanted to at least tell Tatsuma my feelings towards him. Because he deserves to know, and I also don't like keeping secrets from people who care about me.

I had to tell Kotoro last night on what happened when I didn't arrive back to the Homeless building the day before. Otherwise he would be a bit angry with me, even though he doesn't get angry with me that often.

I was having this sudden memory from when I was a teenager.

_(Rina's Flashback)_

_When I was 15, I was sitting in one of the cafeteria tables, bored. It wasn't time to eat, but the homeless people were allowed to sit in the cafeteria as long as we didn't cause trouble. _

_As I rested my cheek in my palm, I heard Kotoro's voice approaching me. He asked me, "Feeling bored, Rina-Chan?"_

_My eyes blinked, but I turned my head around, staring at the owner of the building. I shrugged my shoulders, and responded with a dull tone, "Yeah."_

_He chuckled, "You know what can kill boredom?"_

"_What?" I asked, not really all that interested. _

_Kotoro answered as he sat down next to me, "Talking."_

_It was my turn to chuckle that time. I replied to the owner, "I guess that could help. But I'm not getting my hopes up."_

_He ignored my comment, and said, "Rina-Chan, I should've told you this a long time ago, but if you have a problem, you can talk to me about it."_

_I turned to look at him. I raised a brow up, wondering why he just said that all of a sudden. I questioned, "Why is this so sudden?"_

"_Because I care about you, Rina-Chan. Ever since you came to this place, I basically had to raise you, since you have had no parents. So, here's something I would like you to do. Don't keep secrets from me…please."_

_I continued to stare into Kotoro's eyes. Before I got to respond, he added, "Because I won't appreciate it if you keep secrets from me."_

_I blinked my brown eyes, and stared at the table. I was thinking about what he just said, and come to think of it, he had a point. He really did care for me, because I was an orphan who came to this place. Kotoro really did raise me, as if he were my father._

_My teeth bit my lower lip slightly, but I managed to reply, "When have I ever kept secrets from you?"_

_He raised a brow before responding to my question, "Such as last week, when you were crying about being alone. I asked you what was wrong, and you didn't tell me until I forced you to."_

_Again, he had a point there. I made a cracked smile at him, and replied as a drop of sweat rolled down my cheek, "The reason why I decided to tell you was because you wouldn't give me dinner until I told you what was wrong with me!"_

"_I'm a wise man, aren't I?" He asked with a smirk on his face._

"_Don't start bragging," I muttered as I landed my cheeks in both my palms. Kotoro gave out a chuckle as he ruffled my short hair._

_(End of Rina's Flashback)_

Ever since that time, I've never kept secrets from Kotoro. You could say he's my friend also, but he's more like a father to me since I've never really had a real one. Actually, I did, but I never remembered.

Anyway, I smiled at myself, and stopped my feet once again, so that I could look at the sky. The sky was a bit cloudy, but it wasn't so cloudy that it would rain.

I heard birds chirp once again, but suddenly, I heard a familiar voice. I blinked with curiosity, trying to figure out whose voice that was.

As I made myself look straight, not so far away, I saw Tatsuma. He was asking two women about something, but I had a feeling that he was asking them to "play" with them. This just proves that he's a lonely man, with no one to comfort him.

My eyes widened in shock. I definitively did not expect him to return to Edo today. And since this was completely unexpected, I began to panic because I didn't want him to see me at the moment.

So I decided to run into an alley way, where I wouldn't be seen so easily. I dashed between the houses, and as soon as I stopped, I leaned my back on the wall while breathing heavily. My face was starting to flush.

I really didn't want Tatsuma to see me, but part of me thought it was silly to just run away from him. I thought, _Wait a minute, why am I running away from him?! I mean, I know I'm too embarrassed to see him right now, but running away doesn't solve anything!_

I gripped onto my kimono as sweat was pouring down my forehead. My honest heart was beating fast, and I wanted calm down, but sadly I couldn't.

Then, all of a sudden, I heard Tatsuma's voice again, only it was two feet beside me.

"Hello, Rina-Chan!"

I immediately yelped, surprised that he actually found me in this alley way. But perhaps it was because I wasn't far into the alley way. I blinked multiple times as I stared into his sunglasses (I couldn't see his eyes).

I looked away from him, but managed to reply, "H-Hello."

"Boy, was I drunk last night! Ahahahaha!"

_Yes, you were…_

Biting my lip, I was now thinking of whether or not to tell Tatsuma that he kissed me last night.

_If I don't tell him, he'll get suspicious of me. But if I do tell him, I'll be so embarrassed. What am I supposed to do?_

Without warning, Tatsuma took a few steps, and he was now in front of me. I didn't realize he was staring at my expression until it was too late. He used his right hand to lift my chin up. I made a barely audible gasp as he asked, "Why're you gazing away from me?" I was a little shocked that he wasn't laughing this time.

Maybe he was getting serious right now. Maybe…he wanted my answer.

The second I decided to give him eye contact, I noticed that his sunglasses were lowered down. I saw his beautiful blue eyes again, but my blush was on my cheeks. I could actually hear my own heartbeat thump loudly, and the more I stared at Tatsuma's serious expression, the faster my heart was beating.

He quietly said my name, "Rina-Chan…"

I wasn't so sure if he was getting impatient with my answer or not, but a gulp went down my throat, and I thought, _I don't have any choice, do I? Well, here goes!_

My throat was clogged up, but I finally managed to answer his question, "T-Tatsuma-San…last night, while y-you were drunk, you…you…" He raised a brow at me, not really understand where I was coming at. But another gulp went down my throat, and I finished my sentence by saying, "…you mentioned someone named Oryou…a-and you kissed me."

The moment I said my whole sentence, he widened his blue eyes at me with raised brows. Tatsuma finally let go of my chin, but he took a step back from me. Was he this shocked at what I said to him? Perhaps, since he was drunk off his butt.

He scratched the back of his neck as he replied quietly, "Wow…this is awkward. I can't believe I did that while I was drunk."

I asked him, trying not to sound angry, "Tatsuma-San…do you love this woman named Oryou? Is that why you said to me, 'Oryou, let's get married and have three kids'?"

Tatsuma sighed, admitting, "Yes. I love Oryou. I've been in love with Oryou for a long time. Rina-Chan, I was really drunk at the time, and I certainly didn't expect to say anything about her last night, but…perhaps it was best that you knew."

I narrowed my eyes, but felt water in them. I asked Tatsuma again, "Have you asked this woman if she wanted to marry you?"

"I have…lots of times, but she keeps on rejecting me." He didn't give out his usual laugh, but a soft chuckle escaped his lips.

I lightly bit my lower lip, and because my tears were about to release, I lowered my head, and asked him one more question, "So…you won't give up?"

"Not really."

My heart was starting to ache. It ached so bad, it felt like someone stabbed my heart into a million pieces. I now couldn't tell Tatsuma that I loved him because I somehow had this fear of being rejected.

I refused to let him see me cry, but he asked me, "Rina-Chan, are you okay?"

After he asked that, I chose to run out of the alley way. I ran away from Tatsuma, still not wanting him to see the tears that forming in my eyes.

As I was running back to the Homeless building, I shut my eyes tightly, feeling tears escaping my eyes. I thought, _He loves Oryou, not me. Why do I feel like such a fool?_

When I squinted my brown eyes, I stopped my feet from running anymore. There weren't very many people in the street I was running in, so I wasn't too worried about people staring at me while I was crying.

I clenched my fists while more tears were pouring down my cheeks. I clenched my teeth as well, and then covered my face with my hands. My face was buried into my hands, and all I could do was cry, letting water land in my palms.

_I'm such an idiot! There's no point in telling him my feelings now! He would just…reject me._

I removed my hands from my face, but I was still crying. Why the hell couldn't I stop crying? Why am I this upset? Do I really love Tatsuma that much?

Wiping my tears were barely helping, but I managed to walk back to the Homeless building.

Hours later, it was getting dark out. I was in my room ever since I arrived back from my walk. I didn't even want to see anybody at the moment, because I was too sad. I told Kotoro why I was crying, and when I told him everything, he just gave me a hug.

While I was sitting on the floor, with my arms on top of my knees, I heard my door open. I blinked, looking up, only to see Kotoro.

He asked me, "We're heading out to the baths'. Are you ready to go?"

I stood up as I responded, "Hold on a sec." I walked to the closet, and opened it, grabbing a clean towel out. I closed the closet door, and added, "Okay, I'm ready."

"Good." Kotoro and I walked out of my room, and we were along with the rest of the Homeless people.

Because we were homeless, and we lived in this Homeless building, we didn't have any baths here. So we would go to the bathhouse, where the owner of it lets us take baths for free.

I thought, _Perhaps a bath will calm me down._

The group of Homeless people, including me and Kotoro, walked to the bathhouse. It wasn't far from the Homeless building, so we got there in less than ten minutes.

We were all in front of the bathhouse, but Kotoro walked in front of us, and asked, "Remember. What do you do when you're done?"

All the men, and myself, answered, "Wait until everybody is ready."

"Right. Alright, let's go in."

Everytime we came here, he would ask the same question, just so that we wouldn't leave anybody behind. All of us walked into the building, but I was staring at the ground.

The men walked into the men's locker room, but before Kotoro went in there, he landed a hand on my shoulder, and asked me, "Are you feeling alright, Rina-Chan?"

I answered without looking at him, "I think I'll feel better when I get into the bath."

"Alright. Well, see you later."

I gave him a nod as he went into the men's locker room. A sad sigh escaped my lips as I walked into the women's locker room.

I muttered to myself, "Since I'm the only female living in the Homeless building, I'm alone right now."

Most of the time, I would be alone in the women's baths', but it wasn't like I minded it. In fact, sometimes I would rather be alone just for peace and quiet, though I can obviously hear men talk on the other side of the baths'.

Soon after I entered the locker room, I began to take off my kimono. I was silent the whole time I was undressing myself, because I was the only person in this locker room.

I was done taking off all my clothes, so I took my towel, and wrapped it around my body. If there were other women here, I would be more self-conscious, because I'm not comfortable with people seeing my body.

But anyway, I entered the baths', and saw how steamy it was, as usual. I looked around, seeing the shower stalls. I walked over to the stalls, and took off my towel, where I sat down on a plastic bucket.

There was shampoo in one of the holders, so I grabbed the bottle of shampoo, and poured some in my short, orange-brown hair. Even if I was washing the ends of my hair, they would still curl up, because that's just how my hair is. And truth be told, my hair has never really grown out while I was growing up. It was weird, but it was best to have short hair anyway.

When I was done washing my hair, I grabbed the long hose, and let the water rinse all the shampoo out.

I saw the water and shampoo go down the drain, but I stood up, and stepped into the bath. It had its usual temperature of somewhat hot, but not too hot. My whole body was in (Except my shoulders and head), and I felt a bit relaxed, though I couldn't help but think about earlier.

I ran away from Tatsuma when I was about to cry. And the reason why I did that was because I didn't want to cry in front of him. I didn't want him to think I was a crybaby. But since I was alone in the women's baths', then it wouldn't matter if I cried or not.

Actually, tears were forming in my eyes once again. I furrowed my brows as I nearly shut my eyes. A drop of tear dripped into the water, causing a ripple. A few more tears fell into the water, which caused even more ripples.

I could only think of Tatsuma, and whenever I did think of him, tears would pour out of my eyes. I covered my face with my hands, but seconds later, I heard footsteps. I gasped quietly, and decided to stop crying since I didn't want the woman to ask why I was crying.

My tears managed to stop pouring out of my eyes. I looked up, and saw a woman who had long, purple hair, with a mole under her eye. She wore red-rimmed glasses.

Wondering why she was wearing glasses in the baths', I raised a brow, and asked, "Um, why're you wearing your glasses when you're about to take a bath?"

The woman stared at me before responding, "Because without my glasses, I'm as blind as a bat."

She went over to the shower stalls, but her glasses somehow dropped. She blinked her eyes as she said, "Oops, my glasses dropped." She bended over while trying to find her glasses that fell on the floor.

She touched part of her glasses, but her towel fell off of her body, so her towel landed on top of her glasses. Instead of her glasses, the woman grabbed her own towel, and asked herself, "Are these my glasses?"

I rolled my eyes, informing her, "Those aren't your glasses. They're right in front of you."

The purple-haired woman blinked, but touched the floor again before touching her glasses for a second time. This time, she picked up her actual glasses, and put them on. She said to me, "Thank you, miss. I really can't live without my glasses."

Again, I rolled my eyes.

She took a quick shower, and she stepped into the bath, beside me. But while we were both quiet, her glasses fell off of her face again. Now, it fell into the water.

The woman exclaimed with anger, "Dammit! My glasses fell off again!"

I exclaimed back, "Buy some more fitting glasses then!"

She decided to ignore me, and held her breath, ducking into the water. Not long later, she got out of the water, gasping for air.

The female exclaimed yet again, but with a smile, "I think I found them!"

I saw that she was holding just some rope. I sighed with aggravation, "That's rope, not your glasses." I had the urge to call her an idiot, but that wasn't the stupidest thing she's done so far.

Another exclaim came from her, "Oh, how I wish my true love was here~! Then I could've washed his back~!"

I blinked my eyes, shedding a sweat drop down my cheek. I told her, "Uh, you're not the only person in here, you know."

Again, she ignored me. She continued to ramble on about this "true love" of hers, even when her glasses fell from her face.

Instead of trying to help her anymore, I thought of Tatsuma once again. Would I ever be able to tell him how I feel?

* * *

**Poor Rina. It seems that she's a bit heart-broken, even though she hasn't told Tatsuma her feelings yet. :P**

**Just so you know, I have a harder time deciding on male's names than female's names. That's probably why I didn't really try giving Rina's friend a name that rhymes with "Mashiro". XD And I refused to use "Daisuke" or any of the overused male names because, well, they're overused! It's not that it annoys me, I just didn't want to name Hashiro that. So, yeah.**

**And in case you were wondering, the woman at the end of this chapter was Ayame Sarutobi, the masochist (LOL). But it was only a cameo, and she won't appear in this story anymore, because I really don't like her. XP**

**Well, I'm going to be a little slower on writing this fic, because I already have two stories currently in the process of writing (Though I'm thinking of putting "Friends Have Allies" on hiatus.).**


	4. Don't cry, just be happy

**Well, what do you know. I managed to post another chapter up sooner than I had expected. LOL Well, here's the fourth chapter of the rewrite!**

**Strawwwberrylollipop: Aw, thanks! XD But since Mutsu and Tatsuma don't appear in the show much often, don't expect me to write them perfectly in character. Well, Tatsuma's a little easier to write, but Mutsu is a different story. :P**

* * *

Three days have passed since I last saw Tatsuma. I remembered that he told me that he loved this woman named Oryou, and when I informed him that he kissed me instead of Oryou, he was really shocked. Well, he was drunk so how would he remember exactly?

Those thoughts of Tatsuma saying that he loves Oryou wouldn't leave my head.

"_So you won't give up?"_

"_Not really."_

I was still upset, and I couldn't tell him that I love him because I was somehow scared of being rejected.

I couldn't stop crying, even if it has been three days. Whenever I would start crying, I would go to my room, because I refused to let anybody see my tears fall down my cheeks. I didn't want to look like a crybaby in front of them, because I was already in my twenties. I'm not a child anymore. I'm supposed to act like an adult.

I sat down on the floor, landing my arms on my knees. I furrowed my brows as I thought, _There's still no point in telling Tatsuma-San. He loves Oryou, not me._

As more tears were starting to roll down my cheeks, I heard Kotoro talk to Hashiro just outside of my room.

Hashiro asked the owner, "Kotoro-Kun, why does Rina-Chan keep going into her room?"

Kotoro sighed, "She's still upset about this Tatsuma guy. Besides, she doesn't want anyone to see her cry, so let's leave her alone for now."

"Alright then. I'll try not to bother her." After his comment, I could've sworn I heard him grunt.

I heard them walking away from each other. I was glad that neither of them came into my room, because then they would see me cry. Even if one of them would try to cheer me up, the thought of Tatsuma was still trapped in my head.

Then, I decided to go to the Tour of Ships again. I wanted to go there now because maybe I would find a different ship to live in. Then again, how would that even be possible? The Tour of Ships is for crew members to give people tours. It wasn't like finding a home you could live in.

I still didn't want to give up on looking for a ship to live in, though, because I will still be a fan of ships, no matter how long it's been.

I finally stood up from the floor, and knitted my brows while slightly clenching my fists. I thought, _I'm going to stop crying now!_

With that, I began to walk out of my room. I landed a hand on the handle, and pulled the paper door open. I took a few steps out as I closed it. My brown eyes closed for a moment as I took a deep breath. I exhaled, and said to myself, "I'm going to the Tour of Ships."

I speed-walked to the front entrance, but heard Kotoro calling my name.

"Rina-Chan, are you going to the Tour of Ships again?"

I stopped my feet from walking anymore. I turned my head to the point where I saw Kotoro's face. He crossed his arms as he gave me a sympathetic look.

I nodded my head as I responded, "Yes, Kotoro-San. I'm going to the Tour of Ships."

He sighed, walking towards me. As he was in front of me, he ruffled his short, bluish-gray hair. Kotoro said, "Just don't cry so much."

"I'll try not to," I replied quietly as I narrowed my eyes. "Well, I'll see you later, Kotoro-San."

"Be careful, Rina-Chan."

I gave the owner another nod as I turned around again, putting my sandals on. I then walked to the door, and opened it up, walking out. When I closed it, I began to walk towards the Tour of Ships. I was going to be silent all the way there, because I just didn't feel like talking to myself even though I don't do that much.

I was suddenly remembering the time where I first came to the Homeless building. I was so small, that I didn't really know how my parents died. Well, I was glad I was still alive.

But because I was at a very young age, I don't remember what their names were, nor do I even remember what they looked like. I'm guessing I was an only child, but I guess that didn't matter much.

I thought while biting my lower lip, _At least Kotoro-San was there for me, since I was so little._

I never went to a public school. Instead, Kotoro taught me how to write and read. He even taught me the history of when the Amanto came to Japan. And when he asked me what I thought about the Amanto, I only told him that I didn't care.

I saw the Tour of Ships, far ahead of me. I stopped for a moment as I whispered to myself, "What if I see Tatsuma-San? Will he want to talk to me since I ran away from him all of a sudden?"

Biting my lower lip once again, I thought, _I feel so bad for running away from him, but I was about to cry. I didn't want him to see my tears._

I tilted my head down, now staring at the ground. Surprisingly enough, I didn't feel water in my eyes again. But that didn't mean I wasn't sad.

_I guess I'm not his type._

A silent sigh escaped my lips, and I decided to just head on to the Tour of Ships.

Soon enough, I arrived at the Tour of Ships. I looked around, seeing crew members give people tours as usual. And so far, I didn't see Tatsuma. Did he not want to try to find me again? Well, if so, then I wouldn't be shocked.

I blinked my brown eyes once before continuing to walk through the tours. I had thought of going with a group of people, and be given a tour; but for some reason, I didn't really feel like it. I didn't know why, but all I did was stare at the designs on the big ships.

Ships had the colors from red to black. But seeing a red ship reminded me of Tatsuma's ship, called the Kaientai.

Just then, I remembered a different comment from Tatsuma.

"_I sometimes drink to forget my loneliness."_

My brows furrowed once again.

_Why? Why do you have to be lonely, Tatsuma-San? Why doesn't anyone comfort you, even Mutsu-San? I…want to comfort you…but how can I when you love Oryou more than me?!_

I shut my eyes tightly as I clenched my teeth a bit.

When I clenched my fists as well, I heard a very familiar voice. And that voice was calling my name softly.

"Rina-Chan."

Widening my brown eyes, I slowly turned my orange-brown head, wondering who was just saying my name. But as I saw the person behind me, my eyes blinked in shock.

It was Tatsuma!

He wasn't laughing. He wasn't even smiling, either. He just stood there, staring at me with lowered brows.

Tatsuma asked me, "Why did you dash off like that, Rina-Chan?"

My lips parted, but I didn't respond to his question. I took one step back, and without thinking, I turned around and dashed off. I didn't want to run away from him again; because I knew running away wouldn't solve anything.

He exclaimed, "Rina-Chan!" I knew he was chasing after me, but I didn't bother to look back. My eyes shut tightly again as I continued to run.

_I know dashing off doesn't solve anything, but what am I supposed to say to Tatsuma-San?!_

It was only a couple of seconds since I started dashing off, but I felt my wrist being grabbed. I gasped loudly while widening my eyes, and I knew for a fact that Tatsuma didn't want me running away from him anymore.

He asked again, "Why did you dash off again? Are you trying to avoid me?"

I was surprised that he was sounding really serious at the moment. I felt my heart beating really fast, and the faster it was beating, the hotter my face was.

I tilted my head down, but still didn't look at the brown curly-haired man. I gripped on my kimono as I took a gulp.

_You need to answer him, Rina. Staying quiet won't fix anything._

Finally, I turned my head slowly, but when I gave Tatsuma eye contact, he gave me the most serious expression ever. I gulped once again, but this time, I answered his previous question, "T-Tatsuma-San…I wasn't trying to avoid you. But…whenever I see you, my heart just aches."

He narrowed his blue eyes as he replied, "Is this about the whole kissing-you-while-I-was-drunk thing?" I nodded. Tatsuma continued, "I figured. But Rina-Chan…it was best if you knew about Oryou."

"I know, Tatsuma-San. I know," I whispered as I gazed away from him again. He was still holding my hand, but not as tightly as before.

Tatsuma asked suddenly, "Do you care for me?"

I swiftly turned my head, seeing him again with a surprised look on my face. My face was burning up more, but I had to answer him, so I responded with a sigh, "I…do care for you. When you told me you were lonely, I just felt so bad for you. I felt bad that no one was there to comfort you. Tatsuma-San…I have pity for you!"

He widened his eyes a bit as his sunglasses lowered down. The man let go of my wrist, but I squinted my eyes, dashing towards him to give him a hug. I didn't expect myself to do that, but I don't regret it.

As I wrapped my arms around his back, he took a step back, almost tripping. I didn't care if anyone saw us hugging. I wanted to let Tatsuma know that I really do care for him. I gripped on his red jacket as I whispered, "There is no reason for you to be lonely, Tatsuma-San."

"Rina-Chan…" He whispered back.

I made my head move back, but I blinked slowly, lifting my head up to see him. I was embarrassed, but like I said, I don't regret giving him a hug.

My eyes were half-way closed as I whispered once again, "I…want to tell you something."

He blinked as he asked, "What is it?"

I slowly moved my hand up, touching his left cheek. He stared at my hand as I parted my lips.

Another gulp went down my throat, but I said, "I love you."

The second I told him that, I tip-toed up, giving him a kiss. I was kissing him on his soft lips, and I already know that he's not drunk this time. This was a real kiss. Tatsuma knows that his lips are on mine. He made a sound at first, but while our lips were connected, he didn't try to pull himself away from me. Instead, he wrapped his arms around my back as well.

I fully closed my eyes, not really wanting to drift the kiss away from his lips. My hands gripped on his jacket even tighter, and I was pulling him into a tighter embrace.

As my blush was probably all the way to my neck, he drifted his lips away from mine. I opened my eyes a bit, and saw Tatsuma just staring into my brown eyes. Blue met brown.

I felt a bit awkward since we were both quiet, but Tatsuma broke the silence by saying with a smile on his face, "Thank you for caring."

I smiled back, but my smile was smaller than his. I rested my head on Tatsuma's chest, and the only thing I could hear was his heartbeat. It wasn't beating slow or fast.

Tatsuma landed a hand on my head as he asked, "Do you want to meet again next week?"

I nearly widened my brown eyes as I looked up to him. He gave me a warm smile, waiting for my answer.

I blushed harder as I responded, "Y-Yes." I didn't know why he asked that, but at least I would see him again. I wasn't even thinking of asking where we would meet, because my heart was just racing.

He drifted away from me, and said, "Alright, we'll meet next week. See you then, Rina-Chan." When I didn't touch his hand anymore, he was walking away from me. I smiled at his back as my heart continued to beat really fast.

There, I wasn't feeling sad anymore. He didn't really reject me, but that didn't mean that he loves me. I wondered if Tatsuma was going to bring up him loving Oryou, but all I had to do was wait until next week.

I chose to go back to the Homeless building, so I walked out of the Tour of Ships, and headed back. It was pretty funny that I was there for a short time, but the reason for that was because I wanted to live in the Kaientai ship, with Tatsuma, Mutsu and the rest of the Kaientai crew. But, I would have to ask Tatsuma and Mutsu if I could live in their ship with them.

I held my hands as I thought, _Tatsuma-San's going to see me next week. I feel pretty excited, but I shouldn't get my hopes up._

Not long later, I came back to the Homeless building. But in front of the building, I saw what looked to be an ambulance.

I raised a brow as I muttered under my breath, "Strange. Why was an ambulance here?"

There was only one way to find out, and that was to ask Kotoro what had happened. I ran towards the front entrance as the ambulance was driving away. The sirens went off, and as soon as I was at the door, Kotoro saw me with furrowed brows.

I asked, slightly worried, "Kotoro-San…what happened? Did somebody get hurt?"

"Rina-Chan, I don't know how to tell you this…" Kotoro paused, biting his lower lip.

I exclaimed with curiosity, "Please tell me what happened!" He widened his eyes at me, but then gave out a sigh.

He replied, "Alright, I'll tell you." He took a deep breath, and when he was about to speak, he said, "Hashiro-San had a heart attack."

There, I widened my eyes with shock. I couldn't believe what I had just heard.

I whispered, "H-Hashiro…heart attack?" Kotoro nodded his head.

"I'm not lying, Rina-Chan."

I stared at the ground, nearly exclaiming once again, "But how could he have had a heart attack?! He was fine this morning!"

Kotoro said as he landed a hand on my shoulder, "Actually, for the past two days, his chest was aching. He didn't want to worry you, so he tried to keep it a secret. But when I found out that he was in pain, I made him tell me what was wrong with him, so he did. Hashiro-San had a sudden heart attack while walking in the hall, and he fell to the floor, breathing really heavily."

He paused again, but I told him as a drop of sweat rolled down my cheek, "Go on." My brows furrowed slightly.

The owner sighed, "Another man told me about it, so I called the ambulance. They came moments after Hashiro-San's heart attack, and they were able to put him into the ambulance. But now, I'm not so sure if he's going to be okay."

My teeth clenched as I said, "No…Hashiro…he's my friend! He can't have a goddamn heart attack! He's not even that old!"

Kotoro put both his hands on my shoulders. He told me, "Just calm down, Rina-Chan. The paramedics told me that the hospital would call me if something else would happen to Hashiro. And I know he's not that old, but it sadly happens to some people."

I clenched my fists, and hit them on Kotoro's chest. I did it without a second thought, but exclaimed at the owner, "Hashiro-San's my only friend, other than you! He would always cheer me up, even when we didn't know each other at first!"

I knew Hashiro since we were teenagers.

I continued to exclaim, "And what do you mean you're not sure if he's going to be okay?! Shouldn't we pray that he'll be okay?! Kotoro-San, this isn't fair!"

Kotoro grabbed my wrists a bit tightly. I gasped as he ordered me, "Stop hitting me on the chest." I blinked as I felt water in my eyes. I looked up to him, and saw an angry expression coming from Kotoro.

He told me, "Hitting me on the chest doesn't solve anything. And even if we prayed that Hashiro would be okay, what difference would it make? I know you're very upset at this, Rina-Chan, but you have no excuse to hit your fists at me! Understand?"

My tears rolled down my cheeks. I stared at my wrists while Kotoro was still holding onto them. I muttered, "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to do that…"

Another sigh escaped his lips, but he let go of my wrists, and gave me a hug. He said quietly, "I'm sorry, Rina-Chan. I didn't mean to get angry like that. But I still don't want you hitting me, alright?"

I nodded as I replied, "I'm sorry."

"It's alright."

He drifted the hug, and we both came into the Homeless building. Kotoro informed me, "When the hospital calls me, I'll let you know if Hashiro-San is okay or not."

I narrowed my eyes, not saying a single word.

I wondered, _How did Hashiro-San even get aches in his chest? Could it be that he was frustrated at everything? Or did he always have heart problems?_

Whatever the reason was, I wanted to know is Hashiro really was going to be okay. But just waiting for the hospital to call Kotoro…I didn't want to wait, but sadly, I had to.

One moment, I was feeling better, then the next moment, I felt sad again; all because Hashiro had to go to the hospital, due to his heart attack.

I had another memory in my mind, but this time, it was when I first met Hashiro.

_(Rina's flashback)_

_I was only 13 at the time, but when I was in my room, feeling bored as usual, Kotoro came into my room and told me, "Rina-Chan, come outside for a moment."_

_I raised my head up, but raised a brow at the same time. He waved his hand backwards, motioning me to follow him. My brown eyes rolled, but I chose to stand up. _

_When I walked out of my room, I closed the door, following Kotoro. He said to me, "I brought another homeless person here from the streets, only he's a teenager, just like you."_

"_Do you know how old he is, though?" I asked with curiosity._

_Kotoro turned his head to the side, and responded with a smile on his face, "He's 16."_

"_Kotoro-San, why exactly do you want me to, apparently, meet this guy?"_

"_Because you two are the only teenagers in this building, so I figured that you two should get to know each other."_

_Again, I rolled my eyes. I said, "That barely makes sense, but I'm not going to bother asking anymore."_

_A chuckle escaped the owner's lips._

_Soon, we entered the cafeteria, and I saw a dark-skinned boy, who had his arms crossed with a pout on his face. I stared at him, wondering what his problem was._

_When we were in front of the boy, Kotoro said, "Hashiro-San, this is Rina-Chan." He turned to me, and added, "Rina-Chan, this is Hashiro-San."_

"_Hey," The boy named Hashiro said. _

_I laughed out, "Hello." We were silent after my comment. I gave myself a few seconds of thinking before asking the boy, "Are you an orphan, like me?"_

_He shook his head while responding, "No. My parents went to jail for illegal smoking. And because they went to jail, I was forced to live in the streets. That is, until this old dude helped me out."_

_Kotoro glared at Hashiro. The bluish-gray haired man told him, "I'm not that old, young man. You will respect me, and at least be happy that I'm letting you stay here."_

"_Look, I'm just angry, okay?"_

_I laughed, "That's barely an excuse, young man."_

_Hashiro exclaimed, "You shouldn't call me 'young man'! I'm older than you, and the way I know that is because you're short!"_

"_Hey!"_

_Kotoro waved his hands at us and said, "Calm down, you two. Be nice to each other. Perhaps you could get along if you at least talk to each other."_

_There, Hashiro and I said at the same time, "We'll see about that."_

_(End of Rina's flashback)_

When Hashiro and I first met, we didn't really like each other. Well, I had more of an attitude when I was a child, but soon, I decided to be nice to people who aren't really that mean. Besides, children can change as they get older. So Hashiro and I became friends soon after he came to the Homeless building.

But since he was now in the hospital, I couldn't help but worry.

A few hours have passed, and I was as anxious as to whether or not Hashiro would be okay. My heart was beating, and sweat was pouring down my forehead.

_Please be alright, Hashiro-San!_

I was sitting in the cafeteria, just minutes after dinner was over. It wasn't the same when I was eating dinner alone, since Hashiro and I would always eat at the same table; whether it was breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

As I was tapping my index finger on the table, I heard the telephone ring. I widened my eyes, deciding to run out of the cafeteria.

Seconds after running out of the cafeteria, Kotoro picked up the phone, and said to the caller, "Hello?"

Not surprisingly, I couldn't hear the caller, but I noticed that it was one of the doctors that were calling him. I was a few feet beside Kotoro, though he didn't notice me yet.

It was silent for a moment, but Kotoro spoke up again, "I see. Well, thank you for calling. Bye." He hung up the phone.

Kotoro blinked his eyes, and saw me. He turned his head, giving me a sad look. I gave him the same expression, only I didn't know what the doctor told him.

I asked, "W-Well…is Hashiro-San alright?"

He answered as he narrowed his eyes, "Rina-Chan…Hashiro-San…is not alright."

"Wh-What do you mean?" I asked once more, not wanting to believe what he was saying.

Kotoro sighed, and said as he walked towards me, "The doctor called, and informed me that…Hashiro died."

I stared at the owner as if he was crazy. But I found out that he wasn't lying. My brown eyes squinted as I bit my lip hard. It wasn't so hard that I drew blood, but I was hurting my lip a bit.

I questioned him one more time before taking a few steps forward, "Did he have heart failure?" Kotoro sadly nodded. I ran quickly, giving him a tight hug. I began to sob in his chest.

I muffled out, "Goddammit! Why did my friend have to pass away?! Why?!"

He tried to calm me down by putting his hand on top of my short, orange-brown hair. He told me, "Shhh, it's okay, Rina-Chan. He may have died, but at least you had a friend."

I muffled for a second time, "At least you're my friend."

"I know."

It was sad for my friend to die, but I knew I had to accept his death later (Which would be weeks or months).

Now, I thought, _I wonder if Tatsuma-San will try to cheer me up when I see him again._

Kotoro let go of me, but said, "Get some sleep, Rina-Chan." I briefly nodded at him before heading over to my room.

I had a feeling that I would be thinking about my old friend when I see Tatsuma again, so it would be best if I told him all about it. But I had another thought. Would Tatsuma tell me if he loved Oryou more than me the next time I would see him?

Well, only time will tell.

* * *

**So much for being slow on the updates for this. XD **

**Please understand that it was really hard to keep Tatsuma in character since I didn't make him laugh at all in this chapter. I love his laugh, but I wanted him to get serious this time. **

**I know Hashiro's death had nothing to do with the main pairing for this story, but first of all, I didn't want to write this chapter extremely short; and secondly, it was in the original. His death in this is completely different from the original, but I'm not going to say anymore about that, because I know you probably didn't read the original. LOL**

**Anyway, I'll write three more chapters of this rewrite, and then I'll be done. Perhaps I can actually update faster with this since it's not a very long story.**


	5. This is my answer

**Here's the fifth chapter of the rewrite!**

* * *

Six days have passed…and six days ago, Kotoro and I found out that Hashiro had a heart attack, and died. I was devastated, because he was my friend, other than Kotoro. I know I have to accept his death sometime, but since he was my friend from the time I was a teenager, it will be a little hard. Hopefully, though, I'll stop crying.

It was only one more day before Tatsuma was going to see me again. He didn't really reject me when I told him that I loved him, but I wasn't so sure what he was going to say the next time I would see him. It was embarrassing, telling Tatsuma my feelings, but I felt like I had to tell the truth.

I really do care for Tatsuma, and there is no reason for him to be lonely. He needs someone to be by his side, and comfort him whenever he is lonely.

I was in the cafeteria, eating dinner alone. Hashiro would never sit in the same table as me again because he had already died. Everyone can only live once, that's true, but it's still sad.

I finally managed to stop crying, but flashes of Hashiro were still in my head. From my teenage years, to my adult years even though I'm in my early twenties.

Kototo suddenly sat in front of me. As I was almost done eating my dinner, he asked me, "Are you okay, Rina-Chan?"

I nodded as I answered, "I'm okay, Kotoro-San. I'll accept Hashiro's death eventually."

The owner gave me a sympathetic smile before ruffling my short, orange-brown hair with his hand. He replied, "Just try not to cry too much. I understood your friendship with Hashiro, but I'm always feeling bad for you whenever you're just locked in your room, crying your heart out."

"I'm sorry, Kotoro-San. But I don't like people seeing me cry. It's embarrassing."

"I understand. Well, I got some work to do. Bye." Kotoro stood up, and walked out of the cafeteria. I turned my head around, seeing him leave.

I gave out a sigh as I finished up my dinner. I stood up from the table as well, but carried my tray until I put it on top of the other dirty trays. I then turned around, and walked out of the cafeteria. I decided to go the bathroom.

I headed to the bathroom, and when I entered it, I closed the door most of the way, because I wasn't really going to use the toilet.

Instead, I turned on some cold water, and cupped my hands under the water just before splashing it on my face. I shut my brown eyes tight as drips of water were rolling down my face. I barely opened them back up, but saw my own face in the mirror. As I was staring at my reflection, I began to think about something.

_What will Tatsuma-San say to me tomorrow? Will he tell me that he loves Oryou more than me? I don't even care what she looks like anymore. All I know is that Tatsuma loves this woman._

A sigh escaped my lips as I dried my face off with a small towel. I pushed the door, and walked out of the bathroom, heading to my room. I didn't really talk to anybody else, other than Kotoro, in the Homeless building, so I kept silent as I passed other homeless people. Strangely, I was still the only woman here. Oh well.

While I could hear other men talking to each other, I opened the door to my room, and went in. When I closed it, I gave out another sigh as I muttered under my breath, "I have to remember that Hashiro isn't alive anymore."

A few days ago, I called out Hashiro's name in the hall, only to have remembered that he died from his heart attack. I can't forget that; I have to know that he's dead, and he won't come back from the dead.

Well, one thing's for sure. I was going to meet up with Tatsuma tomorrow, and for the truth, I'm really nervous. Nervous about seeing him again, and also nervous because he already knows that I love him. Okay, maybe that wasn't a clear reason, but when I confessed to him, I was really embarrassed. But it was better to tell him sooner rather than never.

I sighed once again before taking out my sleeping bag. I set it up, and then turned off the light. I wasn't all that tired, but I really needed my rest.

I slid into my sleeping bag, and drifted off to sleep.

Suddenly, there were a few pictures of Tatsuma in my head. There was a picture from when we first met. He was laughing his butt off, and he was also wondering what was wrong with me. He was even watching me while I was sleeping, which was still awkward.

I thought, _Tatsuma-San…I love you._

The next morning, I woke up, putting my sleeping bag away. I felt my face burn, but that was because I was going to see Tatsuma today.

I still felt nervous, but I guess I should be.

I walked out of my room, and saw Kotoro about to walk pass me. He noticed me, and said with a quiet sigh, "Is today the day you meet up with this Tatsuma guy?"

I nodded as I responded, "Yes, Kotoro-San. I'm going to see him again."

Almost a week ago, I told Kotoro what had happened the last time I saw Tatsuma. I told Kotoro that I had feelings for Tatsuma, and I also told him that I would see him again, which is today.

I didn't eat much breakfast, but that was because I wasn't all that hungry. I know eating breakfast is important, but I just don't feel like eating much. The only things I have eaten were some rice with cooked egg, and some chopped apples.

As I was at the front door, I put on my sandals, and said to Kotoro, "I'm heading out!"

"Be careful, Rina-Chan," He told me. I giggled, expecting that he would say that again. Kotoro had always been aware of me going out alone, even when I'm an adult.

I walked out of the front door, and closed it, now walking beside the street. I blinked my brown eyes, seeing that it was a very sunny day out. There were very little clouds, and it was pretty warm out.

_I'm glad it's warm outside._

A smile was brought onto my face as I looked up at the sky. I stopped for a moment, feeling the wind blow on the backside of my body. It blew some of my short hair, and some of my bangs were in front of my face, even though they weren't that long. I closed my eyes for a minute.

_I like how it's sunny, yet it's a little windy. At least it's not too cold._

While my smile was still on my face, I blinked my eyes again, but continued to walk forward. I didn't say anything, but heard other people arguing to each other. It's not surprising when a lot of people, here in Edo, argue over the stupidest things.

For me, I rarely argue with Kotoro or Hashiro. There was no reason why, I just rarely have arguments.

But all of a sudden, I heard a familiar voice, coming from a man.

"I found you, Rina-Chan."

My eyes widened, but I slowly turned my head around. When I saw the person who had just talked, I saw Tatsuma.

He was just a few feet behind me, but my smile was bigger, and without adding a second thought, I dashed towards him. I gave him a big hug when I was only a few inches in front of Tatsuma. I wrapped my arms, tightly, around Tatsuma's back.

He laughed out, "Were you this excited to see me? Ahahahaha!"

I giggled, "You could say that."

"Rina-Chan…" Tatsuma paused as I looked up to him. He finished his sentence by saying, "…want to take a walk?"

I gave him a nod as I drifted the hug. The two of us were now starting to walk through the street. I didn't hold his hand or anything (Even though I wanted to), but my heart was starting to beat a little faster than earlier.

While we were walking, Tatsuma asked without looking at me, "So…what were you thinking all week?"

My eyes blinked as I thought, _What a strange question. But I guess I should answer._

I lightly bit my lower lip, but answered his question, "Well…when I arrived back at the Homeless building…" I stopped. I thought about last week, when Hashiro was in an ambulance.

Tatsuma said, "Rina-Chan?"

I continued, "Sorry. When I arrived back at the Homeless building, I found out that my friend was taken to the hospital."

"Why? What happened to him?" Tatsuma asked, sounding a little serious this time.

I tilted my head as I said, "The owner of the Homeless building told me that he had a heart attack. I was terribly shocked, because my friend wasn't even that old. Actually, we've known each other since we were teenagers." My teeth bit my lower lip again, only it was harder.

I furrowed my brows, but added, "Later that day, the owner got a call from the hospital…and…" My throat was now starting to clog up. I tried to speak, but words wouldn't come out of my mouth.

Tatsuma landed a hand on the side of my upper arm. When I looked up to him, he told me, "Go on. I'm listening." A sudden blush crept up my cheeks.

I stared at the ground as I managed to say, "…a-and the doctor told him that…he died. My friend…died from a heart attack."

I clenched my fists, feeling tears form in my eyes. I started to bite my lip really hard, but I didn't want to, because then I would draw blood on my lip. So I stopped biting my lip, but I was now clenching my teeth.

A whimper came out of my mouth, "I-I didn't want to believe that he had a heart attack, but the owner was too serious to be lying. So…when I heard that my friend died, I was devastated. I cried almost every day, just thinking about him. But, I have to accept his death sooner or later."

"That's understandable, Rina-Chan," Tatsuma nearly whispered.

I turned my head to see him while my fist wiped the tears out of my eyes. I replied with a weak smile, "Everybody only lives once, I know that. But…it's still hard."

Just then, Tatsuma grabbed my shoulders, and made me turn to give him eye contact. His dark sunglasses lowered, where I could see his blue eyes. I whispered, blinking multiple times, "T-Tatsuma-San…" He let go of my shoulders seconds later, but gave me a hug.

He muttered in my ear, "Rina-Chan…try not to cry so much."

I closed my eyes half-way, and whispered, "Thank you." I didn't know why I said that, but I guess it didn't matter.

As soon as he drifted the hug away from me, he said, "Anyway, Rina-Chan, during the past week, I've been thinking so much."

"What do you mean?" I asked, finally managing to stop crying.

Tatsuma turned, facing his back towards me. He responded, "I'm going to admit that I am somewhat of a womanizer. I do ask a lot of women to 'play' with me, but that's because I really am lonely. I…wanted to be with someone, but I have found out who I really love."

My eyes widened, but I didn't really know what he was saying. So I asked again, "Wh-Who's that?"

He turned back around, but didn't say anything. Tatsuma took two steps towards me, and when his lips were near my ear, he answered, "It's you."

There, I blinked my eyes wide in shock. I thought, questioning myself, _He…He loves me?_

Tatsuma wrapped his arms around my waist, and without warning, he kissed me softly on the lips. I yelped as our mouths were connected, but soon, I closed my eyes, and wrapped my arms around his back, just like last time.

I did not expect Tatsuma to love me as well, because he loves Oryou. At least, I think he still does.

I held the back of his neck with my left hand, but his lips let go of mine. When I slowly opened my brown eyes back up, I decided to ask him, "B-But what about this Oryou woman? Don't you still love her?"

He chuckled as he was still holding onto me, "I do, but I discovered that I love you more. And the reason for that is because…you actually care for me. You care for me, and you understand that I'm really lonely. I know that's not a very good reason, but maybe I'm just crazy."

I landed my index finger on his lips as I whispered, "Don't say that, Tatsuma-San. I don't think one bit that you're crazy. Do you…care for me too?"

"I do. And because I still love Oryou-Chan, I will warn you; in case I want to go to the bar she works at, which is called 'Snack Smile', my 'Oryou instincts' may kick in, and I may tell her to marry me again."

Another chuckle escaped his lips. I smiled a little at him, and replied, "But shouldn't you tell her that you love me more?"

"I should. Rina-Chan…do you want to meet Oryou tonight?"

"Eh?" I said, feeling a little shocked that he asked a question like that.

He chuckled again, "I said do you want to meet Oryou tonight?"

My head tilted down, where I saw part of Tatsuma's chest. I answered, "I-I suppose."

Tatsuma smiled back, and said, "I'm asking this because I've told you a little bit about her, and I think it's time for you to meet her for the first time."

"G-Good point."

As he unwrapped his arms from my waist, he laughed out, "Should I pick you up at nine? Ahahahaha!"

I giggled quietly at his laugh. I was actually amazed at myself for not being annoyed by his laugh.

My response was, "That'd be good."

"Alright then! Can you tell me where exactly the Homeless building is?"

"It's just down this street. You'll find a building that has dark-gray on it."

"Ah, okay. I'm asking now, so that I won't have to wander around while looking for you. Ahahahaha!"

I continued to smile at Tatsuma as I said, "Then it's a good thing I told you. Well, see you tonight."

"See you then, Rina-Chan! Ahahahaha!" He exclaimed as he turned around, waving his hand at me. I closed my eyes as I waved at him back.

I decided to head back to the Homeless building, so I ran.

Not long after, I entered the Homeless building. When I had taken off my sandals, I heard Kotoro say to me, "My, you look happy, Rina-Chan."

I blinked, and saw Kotoro from the corner of my eye. I turned my head, and replied to the owner, "I am happy, Kotoro-San."

"Did you see this Tatsuma guy again?"

I nodded my head. "Yes, and I found out that…he actually loves me."

Kotoro widened his eyes with surprise at first, but he then smiled, and patted my head with his hand.

He changed the subject as his hand was still on top of my head, "But do you still miss Hashiro?"

My mouth parted. I answered as I stared at Kotoro, "Of course I do. I may not be crying now, but I'm still sad. At least you didn't have a heart attack."

"No. I've been eating healthy foods all my life," He chuckled. He removed his hand from my head, but I walked passed him, giving him a slight smile.

I said before I entered my room, "Tatsuma-San is going to take me to a bar at nine."

Kotoro asked with a raised brow, "Why? You don't drink."

"You're right, I don't, but he wants me to meet this woman he's also loved."

"Wait a minute, does that mean he loves you two equally?"

"Actually, he told me that he loves me more. I was shocked too, but I felt somehow happy." I narrowed my brown eyes just before going into my room.

As soon as I closed my room door, I stood by it, thinking, _I am still surprised that Tatsuma-San told me that he loves me, but…it makes me happy._

Now that I thought about it, I was finally going to see this Oryou person for the first time. I don't know what she looks like, but I will find out when Tatsuma and I go to this bar called "Snack Smile". For some reason, I think the name fits with the bar itself, because a lot of guys go to bars, laughing their butts off. They'll get drunk, and possibly have sex with women they don't know. I know that doesn't happen to every drunk guy, but at least I won't ever drink alcohol.

I had just remembered something. When I see Tatsuma tonight, I will ask him if I can live with him in his ship. I've still wanted to live in a ship, but I didn't even think that was possible. Now…I think I have found a ship I want to live in. I want to live with Tatsuma, Mutsu, and the rest of the Kaientai crew. I don't want to be too hard on Tatsuma and Mutsu, but I have to ask them if I can be on their crew, even though I would probably not do any "important" work.

Well, whether I would do work or not, I want to be with them, on their ship. And if they let me stay with them, I will be so happy. Ever since I was small, I've always wanted to be on a ship, as if it was a home to me. Actually, the Kaientai ship is probably already a home to Tatsuma and his crew.

I thought as I smiled yet again, _Tatsuma-San…you will not be lonely any longer. I care about you, and you know that. Let's just hope I can live in your ship, along with you and Mutsu._

I nearly closed my eyes, and sat down on the floor.

At least I wasn't crying so much today, though I will miss my old friend.

Hopefully, I can cheer up tonight, when I see Tatsuma again.

* * *

**Holy shit, I actually updated two stories in one day. That's rare of me to do such a thing! LOL**

**Anyway, again, it was hard keeping Tatsuma in character. And you know, this is why I stopped caring at characters being IC/OOC, because it's not easy, alright?! You can't expect characters to be perfectly in character! Even if there wasn't an OC in this story, it still would be hard!**

***Ahem* On a side-note, I will rewrite two more chapters of this, and it will finally be over. Rina will finally meet Oryou in the next chapter. So I hope you enjoyed the fifth chapter!**


	6. Skies are really pretty at night

**Just to let you know, I'm going to post up the last two chapters today. I had this urge to finish this rewrite last night, so I did. LOL Well, enjoy the sixth chapter of this rewrite!**

**Strawwwberrylollipop: Don't worry, I was actually thinking of making a seque, plus I wrote a Lemon for Tatsuma x Rina before New Years. XD Wow, I did not expect you to actually like Rina that much. I'm trying to not make her a Mary-Sue though (Since I refuse to have people complain). Then again, I don't care if OC's are Mary-Sues. LOL And thank you. :)**

* * *

Earlier today, I saw Tatsuma again, and I explained to him on why I was upset for the past week. It was because Hashiro died.

But I managed to calm down, and Tatsuma changed the subject, telling me…that he loved me. He said it right in my ear; Tatsuma confessed that he loves me. I was speechless at that, and I asked him if he still has feelings for this Oryou woman. He told me that he did, but he said that he loves me more.

I was happy and all, but soon, Tatsuma was going to pick me up, and take me to this bar called "Snack Smile". That's where Oryou works. He wanted me to meet her for the first time, and I thought it was a good idea.

While I was waiting patiently for Tatsuma to come pick me up, Kotoro asked me from behind, "When is the guy supposed to come?" I told him what had happened the moment I came back to the Homeless building.

I turned my head around to look at him, and responded with a smile on my face, "Nine."

"Ah. You seem happy, by the way, Rina-Chan," Kotoro replied with a grin.

I giggled, "I already told you that he loves me."

"I know you did, but you're pretty cheerful." Kotoro narrowed his eyes, and was silent for a few seconds before asking me, "Are you going to live with him, in his ship?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'd have to ask him first."

He paused for, again, a few seconds. Kotoro gave me a warm smile as he patted me on the head. He said, "If you really are going to live with him, then you won't be in the Homeless building anymore."

"You're right. I won't be." A sudden sigh escaped my lips.

Kotoro noticed my sigh, and asked another question, "Is something wrong, Rina-Chan?"

I looked up to him, answering, "Nothing's wrong. It's just that…when I leave this place for good, I won't see you anymore. I'm going to miss you."

He blinked his eyes, but gave me a sympathetic smile. He ruffled my orange-brown hair as he replied, "You can always come visit me."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

I gave him another smile, when all of a sudden; I heard the front door knock. Kotoro removed his hand from my head, and muttered as he walked to the door, "I'll get it." The door wasn't far from us, so Kotoro only took a few steps just before opening it.

I looked at Kotoro's back, but when I saw the person at the sliding door, I widened my eyes (It's not like I was surprised), and smiled all big.

Tatsuma finally came.

He exclaimed as he landed a hand behind his head, "Where's Rina-Chan? I'm here to see her! Ahahahaha!"

Immediately, I began to dash towards him. Kotoro turned his head, and when he saw me running at the door, he widened his eyes, and stepped aside.

I passed the owner, and nearly jumped off the ground, giving Tatsuma a big hug. I closed my brown eyes as I whispered, "I'm so glad to see you again, Tatsuma-San."

Tatsuma laughed out, "Same here! Ahahahaha! But remember, I'm just going to take you to that bar to visit Oryou-Chan. Ahahahaha!"

A giggle escaped my lips. "I know, but still."

I looked over to Kotoro, and said as I waved my hand at him, "I'll be back, Kotoro-San."

"Be safe," Kotoro replied as he waved back.

As soon as I closed the sliding door behind me, Tatsuma asked, "Are you ready to meet Oryou for the first time?"

I nodded as I responded, "I am."

"Good! Ahahahaha!"

With that, we held hands, and began to walk through the dark streets.

While we were walking, I decided to ask Tatsuma, "Tatsuma-San, how far is 'Snack Smile'? I mean, I've never been there, so I wouldn't really know."

He answered, "It's not far. It's only about two blocks. Ahahahaha!"

I giggled on the inside, but landed the tips of my fingers on my lips. I wasn't sure if Tatsuma noticed this, but I really do love his laugh. Him laughing almost makes me want to laugh. Most people may think his laughter is annoying, but I'm not one of them. I don't care how much he laughs in front of me, because I know for a fact that he's an optimistic person.

I stared down at our hands, which were still connected. A sudden blush was creeping up my cheeks, and I could've sworn that my heart was beating a little faster.

Although he knows that I love him, and I know that he loves me, I can't help but flush. I landed a hand on my cheek, feeling how hot I was.

I remembered earlier, when Tatsuma confessed.

"_I found out who I really love."_

"_Wh-Who's that?"_

"…_It's you."_

That thought made me blush so hard, I was starting to sweat. I even felt sweat in my other hand, where Tatsuma held it. Tatsuma looked down, and said, "My, you're sweating, Rina-Chan. Are you nervous or something? Ahahahaha!"

I shook my head quickly as I answered, "I-It's not that I'm nervous, Tatsuma-San! I…I don't know why I'm sweating." Since Tatsuma didn't let go of my hand, he felt the sweat from my palm, and that was pretty embarrassing; because it was my sweat.

But that didn't make Tatsuma let go of my hand. Once again, he laughed out, "That's okay! Ahahahaha! You're probably still surprised that I confessed to you, is that it?"

"P-Perhaps…" I trailed off.

Without warning, Tatsuma pulled his hand up, making mine go up as well. I blinked at this, and saw Tatsuma looking at our hands. He smiled slightly, and when his sunglasses were lowered down, he kissed my hand.

I widened my eyes, feeling even hotter. Even though Tatsuma kissed my hand once, my heart was starting to race.

But soon, I saw a sign that said "Snack Smile". It was filled with bright light-bulbs, and would flash as if it were Christmas lights. Tatsuma and I stopped right in front of the bar, and he turned to me, saying, "Here we are."

I didn't look at him, but I nodded my head slightly. The two of us resumed walking, entering the bar.

The bar was filled with mostly guys, being all drunk. I wasn't surprised at that, so I rolled my brown eyes.

Tatsuma muttered under his breath, "She must be around here somewhere." He turned both ways, seeing where this Oryou person was. I looked around as well, but obviously, I didn't know what she looked like.

But seconds later, he exclaimed, pointing at someone, "There she is! Ahahahaha!" He walked once again, but I followed him.

I looked straight, only to see a woman with short hair. Strangely enough, her hair color was almost like mine.

I thought, _Is this how Tatsuma-San mistaken me as Oryou when he was drunk?_

If that was it, then it would make a lot of sense.

We didn't stop walking until the woman with short hair noticed us. She blinked, and glared at Tatsuma, "What're you doing here? I already told you that I don't want to marry you!" She blinked her eyes, now looking at me. The woman didn't glare anymore, but she raised a brow at me. I gazed away from her, feeling uncomfortable that she was just staring at me.

Tatsuma said to her, "Don't worry, Oryou-Chan. I'm not going to ask you that this time."

"Hm, well, this is unusual. Is this your girlfriend?" Oryou asked as she smirked at him, pointing her finger at me.

When she called me his girlfriend, I yelped, and felt my cheeks burn again. I tilted my head down as he explained, "You could say that. Oryou-Chan, I still love you…but I love her more."

She widened her eyes at him. Oryou then looked at me for a second time, but asked, "What's your name?"

"Rina," I immediately answered, despite having my cheeks burn.

Oryou repeated, "'Rina'…" The short-haired woman stared at Tatsuma, asking him, "So does that mean you won't ask me to marry you anymore?"

Tatsuma responded as he scratched his brown hair, "Actually, if I feel like going to this bar, my instincts may kick in, and I may accidentally tell you to marry me! Ahahahaha! If I do that again, then remind me that I already have a girlfriend!"

She chuckled, "Fine, then. But you'll still have your testicles kicked if you tell me to marry you again."

I knitted my brows, and said, "I don't want to hear any body parts!"

_I'm so tired of hearing about private areas! First, Mutsu says it, now Oryou!_

Not surprisingly, they both ignored at what I just said.

Tatsuma laughed, "Ahahahaha! Why, you little…"

"Tatsuma-San," I said his name before he could say any more. "Should we go now?"

He looked down at me, and replied, "Ah, yes." We both turned around, and as we were about to leave the bar, he waved at Oryou, and exclaimed, "Bye, Oryou-Chan! Ahahahaha!"

We left "Snack Smile". Tatsuma and I were roaming through the streets as I thought, _At least he didn't tell her to marry him again._

While narrowing my brown eyes, Tatsuma said my name quietly, "Rina-Chan…"

"Eh?" I muttered, looking at the side of his face.

He barely turned his head, but looked at me in the eyes. I saw his beautiful blue eyes as he asked without laughing this time, "Do you want to go to my favorite spot, here in Edo?"

Blinking my eyes in curiosity, I nodded my head. "I would love to."

"Okay then," He chuckled as we were now heading to his favorite spot. I was wondering what his favorite spot was, and I would have asked him now, but I figured I should wait.

Moments later, we were standing on some sort of hill. Tatsuma let go of my hand, but said, "Be careful." I slowly walked down on the somewhat steep hill. Even when I was wearing sandals, I felt the green grass touch the sides of my feet.

It felt ticklish, so I laughed a little. Tatsuma took a few steps down before sitting down on the grass. I caught up to him, and slowly sat down also. The two of us were now sitting on this hill, where it was completely quiet. It was just the two of us, nobody else. I looked around, and didn't even see anybody walking by.

Tatsuma said, "Isn't it beautiful?" I blinked before looking up at the blackish-blue sky. When I was just staring at it, I noticed that there were millions of stars filling up the sky.

My mouth parted, and I whispered, "It…is beautiful."

Without informing me, Tatsuma feather-touched my cheek. I yelped, jumping up a bit as I slightly turned to look at him. He gave me a soft smile as he continued to touch my cheek gently. A few drops of sweat were pouring down my forehead.

As he pulled his fingers away, he looked at the sky again, but told me, "Rina-Chan…I took you to this place, because I wanted to look at the sky with someone."

I raised a brow, asking, "What do you mean?"

"Before I made the Kaientai crew, when I really wanted to explore space, I looked at the sky, seeing how incredible it was. Yes, I love being in space, but occasionally; I will visit Earth, and see the dark, clear sky."

"Why did you want to see it with someone, though? I'm just a little curious."

He explained, "Because seeing it alone makes me even lonelier." I furrowed my brows the moment he said that. Tatsuma continued, "One of the reasons why I kept telling Oryou to marry me was because I wanted to see the dark sky with her. But since she would always reject me, it never happened. Then I met you, Rina-Chan. I didn't really expect to fall in love with you, but I'm glad you at least care about me. Perhaps the actual reason on why I love you is because you're a kind woman, who isn't annoyed by my laugh."

I lifted my legs up, wrapping my arms around them. I stared at Tatsuma as he still said, "I look for women not by their looks, but by their personality. Well, as long as they're not ugly, but that's not the case here. What I'm trying to say is that…I'm happy that you're looking at the sky with me."

I continued to stare at him, but I didn't expect him to say all those things he mentioned.

I said quietly as I continued to hold my legs together, "Tatsuma-San…you don't have to be lonely anymore."

"I know." A chuckle escaped his lips as I lightly bit my lower lip.

I narrowed my brown eyes at the green grass, but then decided…to kiss Tatsuma again.

I let go of my legs, and leaned to the side, getting closer and closer to him. He did see me, but didn't react as to what I was doing. I pulled off his sunglasses, and pressed my lips against his.

His sunglasses were off of his face, but I held it, making sure that it wouldn't break. I closed my eyes, without making any sounds. Tatsuma didn't make any sounds either, but he landed his hand on the back of my neck.

Without actually knowing it, he began to pull me over by holding onto my arms. Tatsuma lied on the grass, and I was on top of him. Our lips were still connected, but I ruffled his curly brown hair as he trailed his hand on my orange-brown hair. He first touched my curled ends, then to the middle of my head, and finally, to the top.

My lips barely drifted away from him, but he pushed my head down, forcing his lips onto mine once more. I grunted briefly before letting him kiss me again.

I landed my hands on his chest, but Tatsuma suddenly grabbed onto the ends of my kimono. Then, before I knew it, he was starting to pull them to each side.

My eyes widened in shock, and I drifted my lips from him, feeling a full-force blush on my face. I adjusted my kimono as I exclaimed quietly, "T-Tatsuma-San! What're you doing?! Someone could've seen us!"

We both leaned up as Tatsuma said, putting his sunglasses back on, "Sorry, Rina-Chan! I got a little carried away! Ahahahaha!"

I made a tiny smile, but still felt embarrassed at what he just did to me. The two of us stood up from the ground. I whispered to him as I was very close to his chest, "Tatsuma-San…I want to ask you something."

"Yes?" He questioned with a cheerful smile on his face.

I gulped silently, but managed to ask, "C-Can I…live with y-you and Mutsu…in the Kaientai ship?" I shut my eyes tightly, hoping that I wouldn't be selfish.

But Tatsuma held my hands together, holding them up in front of his chin. I squinted my eyes a bit while staring at my own wrists. He responded with that smile still on his face, "Of course you can! It wouldn't make much sense if you didn't! Ahahahaha!"

There, I opened my eyes completely, having a bigger smile. I quickly pulled my hands away, and wrapped my arms around his back, giving him a hug like before. He fell back on the ground by his butt as he laughed, "Are you this happy, Rina-Chan? Ahahahaha!"

I whispered again, "Yes, I am happy. I've always wanted to live in a ship, but I didn't expect to love you either."

He ruffled my hair, and replied, "There are things you can't expect."

"I guess not."

Finally, we stood up again, but this time, we stayed up. I wasn't sweating as much as I was a couple of minutes ago, but only my forehead was slightly hot. Tatsuma held my hand as he whispered back, "How about I take you to my ship tomorrow? You'll start living there by then."

I nodded as I kissed his cheek. "That'd be perfect."

He kissed my forehead, and we were walking up the hill. We managed to not fall down by the time we were actually in the street. A couple of street lights were on, but I still didn't see anyone passing us. I only shrugged it off.

I began to wonder about earlier, when I saw Oryou, so I decided to ask, "When you were drunk on that night, how did you mistake me for Oryou?"

He lightly bit his lip, but answered, "My vision was so blurry, I couldn't see straight. I thought you were Oryou because your hair's short, plus she almost has the same hair color as you."

"Well, no wonder," I mumbled as I slightly raised a brow. "But the ends of my hair are curled up. Hers' aren't."

"My vision was still blurry. Ahahahaha!"

I gave Tatsuma a half-smile.

Not long after, we arrived back at the Homeless building. Tatsuma lets go of my hand as he said, "I'll pick you up tomorrow morning."

I replied, "I'll see you then."

He waved at me as he started to walk away. I smiled at him one more time before I walked into the building.

When I had closed the sliding door, Kotoro said, "You're back."

I chuckled, "Yes, Kotoro-San. I am."

"Did you ask him if you could live in his ship?"

"I did, and he said that I could. Tomorrow…he's going to pick me up, and take me to his ship, where I will live there."

The owner looked down at the floor, and as I was about to pass him, he suddenly asked, "Do you miss Hashiro?"

I stopped walking, and turned my head, staring at him. I furrowed my brows slightly, responding to his question, "You already know that I do miss my friend."

"I know that, but I was only asking."

I resumed walking, and passed Kotoro. Soon, I entered my room. I thought as I looked around, _This'll be my last night here._

A sigh escaped my lips as I was beginning to think about living in the Kaientai ship. I was going to live there, starting tomorrow, but I felt somehow nervous. Perhaps I was nervous because I was going to be in a ship, filled with Tatsuma's crew members.

But I clenched my fists, and chose to go to sleep. I pulled out my sleeping bag from the closet, and unrolled it, setting it up.

I walked over to the overhead light, and turned the light off. As it was completely dark, I then went back to my sleeping bag. I unzipped the zipper, and slid into the bag as I adjusted my pillow.

My head landed on my pillow, and I closed my brown eyes, drifting off to sleep.

When I leave the Homeless building, I will miss Kotoro. Hopefully, I can at least visit him.

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**As I said, I'm going to post the last chapter up today, and then this rewrite will be done. I don't know about you, but I actually love the "looking at the sky" scene. Perhaps it's cause I enjoyed writing Tatsuma x Rina's kiss. LOL**

**Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and look forward for the last one! :)**


	7. I live with you now

**Here's the final chapter of this rewrite! :)**

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"_C-Can I…live with y-you and Mutsu…in the Kaientai ship?" _

"_Of course you can! It wouldn't make much sense if you didn't! Ahahahaha!"_

Those are the words Tatsuma told me when I asked him if I could live with him in his ship, along with Mutsu and the rest of his crew. I was very excited to live in his ship, starting tomorrow, but I was also nervous at the same time.

I was going to leave the Homeless building for good, but for now, I needed some sleep.

I will miss Kotoro when I leave, and I will definitively miss Hashiro, but at least he died peacefully.

Hours have passed. I noticed that the sun was shining through my small window, which caused me to grunt. At first, I pulled my sleeping bag over my head, but when I remembered what was going to happen today, I widened my brown eyes, and quickly leaned up.

A smile appeared on my face as I thought, _That's right! I'm going to be living in the Kaientai ship!_

Since Tatsuma would pick me up in the morning, I decided to get out of my sleeping bag. I first put my pillow away, and then knelled on the floor as I started to roll the sleeping bag up. It only took a few seconds before it was completely rolled up.

I stood up, and took two steps towards my closet before putting my sleeping bag away. I closed the closet door, and went to the bathroom, washing my face up. I wasn't trying to look good when Tatsuma would pick me up, but I didn't want to have a dirty face in front of him.

I turned on the water, and cupped the cold water in my hands. When my hands were filled, I splashed it on my face. Unfortunately, though, some of the water got in my eyes.

I yelped, "Eek!" I had my brown eyes shut tightly, so I had to move my hands around, just to find a nearby towel.

A few seconds of searching for it, and I finally touched something a little rough. I grinned, finding out that it was the actual towel. I pulled the towel slightly, and wiped my eyes so that they wouldn't sting from the water anymore.

As I let go of the towel, I slowly opened my eyes back up. They were squinted, but there was no more water in my eyes.

I sighed with slight relief as I also dried my face up. I finished seconds later, and looked at myself in the mirror again. I was making sure that my face was clean, and not dirty.

My hand touched my soft cheek, rubbing on it for no real reason. I looked everywhere on my face, and when I didn't see any more dirt (Or other stuff that would make my face dirty), I smiled.

_This will be your lucky day, Rina._

With that, I ran out of my room. I sort of jogged through the hallway, passing by other homeless people. They all stared at my cheerful expression, but I didn't care. I was filled with excitement.

Even though I was looking at where I was going, I saw Kotoro walking around the corner. And since I was close to that corner, he and I widened our eyes. I accidentally hit his chest with mine.

"Oof!" He grunted as I almost tripped back. I managed to not fall, however, and saw Kotoro wiping his hands on his green apron.

He asked with a half-smile, "Jeez, Rina-Chan. Are you this jumpy today?"

I made a cracked smile as I scratched the back of my head. I replied, "Sorry, Kotoro-San. It's just that Tatsuma-San is going to pick me up today, so I was just excited."

"I understand. Heh, you know, you're lucky I wasn't carrying anything in my arms. Otherwise I would've dropped them by accident."

"I'm still sorry."

"That's okay."

I changed the subject by asking, "Kotoro-San, is Tatsuma-San here yet?"

He shook his head as he responded, "Not yet."

"I see. Well, I shall wait," I said as I smirked.

Kotoro just chuckled. He walked passed me as I was now walking through the hall. I was able to control my excitement, but I was still happy that I get to live in a ship. And what's better…is that I can live with Tatsuma.

A few minutes have passed, but it somehow felt like forever. I didn't know how it felt like forever, but I was still waiting patiently for Tatsuma.

As I leaned on the wall with my arms crossed, I heard the front door open. I turned my head around, seeing who it was. I heard Kotoro say, "Oh, you're here to pick Rina-Chan up?"

The second he asked that, I widened my eyes, and dashed towards him. I ran without thinking, but I didn't give a damn. I saw Tatsuma Sakamoto at the entrance, and when he saw me, he laughed out, "Rina-Chan! Ahahahaha!"

I almost ran into his chest, but I managed to stop my feet from running anymore. I stood up straight as I replied to him, "Good-morning, Tatsuma-San."

"Morning to you, too." Tatsuma ruffled his curly brown hair before pushing his sunglasses up.

Kotoro stared at us with a raised a brow. He did know that Tatsuma was going to pick me up, but he asked me all of a sudden, "Are you going to get all jumpy again?"

I shook my head as I said without looking at the owner, "No."

Tatsuma reached his hand out, holding mine. He asked, "Are you ready to go?"

I closed my eyes, responding, "Yes, Tatsuma-San. I'm ready." I let go of his hand, and turned to face Kotoro. I gave him yet another smile, but I walked towards him, giving him a hug.

Kotoro was probably off-guard by this, because he widened his eyes. But he accepted the hug, and wrapped his arms around me. I muttered, "Thank you for taking care of me, Kotoro-San."

He replied quietly, "I'll miss you, Rina-Chan."

"I'll miss you too."

We slowly drifted the hug away, and I walked back to Tatsuma, holding his hand once more. Kotoro said, "Will you come visit me?"

I nodded, "I will occasionally. Well, good-bye, Kotoro-San."

He waved at me as he quietly said, "Good-bye."

With that, Tatsuma and I walked out of the building, and I closed the door behind us. He looked at me as I hugged his arm. A chuckle escaped his lips, and we were starting to walk back to the Kaientai ship.

The two of us were quiet for a few moments, but Tatsuma said, "You know what's funny? You'll be the second woman to be in the Kaientai crew. Ahahahaha!"

"So Mutsu-San was the only woman there?" I asked, lifting my head up to see him.

He nodded his head as he replied, "She was, but she didn't mind it. In fact, she acts more manly than womanly. Ahahahaha!"

"Mutsu-San told me that she's not girly, so that makes sense." I continued to hold onto his arm.

As we were still roaming through the streets, I blinked, seeing the familiar red ship.

I thought as I giggled, _There's the Kaientai ship. Man, it's been a while since I was last in it. Well, it was only about two weeks ago._

I remember when I first went into the Kaientai ship. Tatsuma and Mutsu gave me a tour, and I was the only person to be toured because it's obvious enough that most people are annoyed by Tatsuma's laugh. I may have mentioned this before, but I'm not one of them. I don't even care how much he laughs.

Still, I didn't expect to be trapped in the ship while I was being toured because the Kaientai, apparently, forgot that they had to meet up with somebody. Well, at least I came back the next day.

But now, I'll be staying in this ship.

As soon as the two of us were walking up the wooden board, Mutsu saw us, and said to me in a nonchalant tone, "It's nice to see you again, Rina-Chan."

I let go of Tatsuma's arm, and bowed slightly as I replied to the woman, "It's nice to see you again as well, Mutsu-San."

"So you're going to live with us now?"

"Yes."

"Very well, but I will warn you, things get a little crazy around here. Especially when Tatsuma-San's in trouble."

Tatsuma laughed as he scratched the side of his head, "Ahahahaha! Mutsu-San, I get into trouble because I always don't know what to do!"

Mutsu looked at him, and asked a rhetorical question, "You're the leader of the Kaientai, yet you don't know what to do when you're about to cause chaos? You really are an idiot."

I frowned, "Mutsu-San, please don't call him an idiot."

"Rina-Chan, I will call him whatever I want because he lets me do that," She said as she closed her eyes.

I rolled my own eyes, and the three of us went in the ship. Mutsu ordered someone, "Close the door." I could hear the door close. It wasn't loud, but it wasn't quiet either.

As it closed all the way, Mutsu told me as she held onto her head-cover, "Hang on tight. This ride's about to get bumpy."

The second she said that, I felt the ship moving up. I gasped, but thankfully, didn't fall down to the floor. Tatsuma, on the other hand, tripped and fell on the floor by his butt. He laughed out, "Ow! Ahahahaha!"

I sighed, "Even when you hit the ground hard, you laugh."

"What can I say? I love laughing! Ahahahaha!"

I gave him a sympathetic smile as I helped him stand up. The ship continued to rumble, but not as much as a moment ago.

Mutsu began to walk in the huge hall, and told us, "I suggest you two hold onto something."

"Eh?" I muttered.

When Mutsu turned around a corner, the ship was now starting to face up. Tatsuma and I fell to the floor, and began to slide down, throughout the hallway. I yelped loudly as I was almost on top of Tatsuma.

Mutsu exclaimed, "I told you to hold onto something!"

I exclaimed back, but with anger, "You should've told us that a few moments ago!"

Tatsuma exclaimed as well, "Weeeee! This is fun! Put your hands in the air, Rina-Chan! AHAHAHAHAHA!" He raised his hands up.

I gripped onto Tatsuma's jacket as I could only stare down while we were still sliding on the floor. Sweat was dripping on my forehead, but since we were going down fast, the sweat was going up.

Soon, our sliding was done when our feet landed on a wall. The ship was starting to lean down. When it was all over, I continued to grip onto the curly brown-haired male's jacket, but I buried my face in it. My body was suddenly shaking.

Tatsuma landed a hand on my arm as he asked, "Were you really scared, Rina-Chan?"

I nodded without looking at him. He rubbed my arm, adding, "Don't worry. It's all over. I'll help you up."

My hands let go of his jacket, but Tatsuma held my hands, pulling me up from the ground. When I stood up, I whimpered, "That was a little frightening."

Tatsuma smiled sympathetically at me as he patted my head with his hand. He told me, "At least we're okay."

"Yes…" I trailed off, feeling a little better.

He asked me, "Do you want to get some breakfast?" I gave him a brief nod. Tatsuma smiled at me once again, but it was a cheerful one this time. He and I walked through the hall.

The rest of the day passed by, and I yawned, covering my mouth with my hand.

Mutsu asked me, "Are you about to get ready for bed?"

I responded, "I am, Mutsu-San."

"Do you want to sleep in the guest room again, or with Tatsuma-San?"

My brown eyes widened when I heard that question. Yes, Mutsu knows that I love him, but her asking that question is a little embarrassing.

I hesitated, but answered her previous question, "I-I think I'll sleep in the guest room again." I blinked, staring at my hands as they were being held together. I didn't know why I had answered guest room, when I could be sleeping with Tatsuma, since we both love each other.

Mutsu raised a brow at me at first, but then said, "Alright. Good-night, Rina-Chan."

"G-Good-night." She walked away from me.

I thought as I clenched my teeth a little, _Why did I say guest room? Well, maybe I'm just too embarrassed._

I shrugged my shoulders as I gave out a sigh. I was heading to the guest room, and I wondered if Tatsuma was a little upset that I was sleeping in the guest room instead of his room. Well, I already answered Mutsu, so I couldn't take back my words.

I entered the guest room, and when I turned on the light, I had just forgotten how pretty it was. My mouth parted, but I shook my head soon after. I closed the sliding door behind me, and went to the closet door, opening it up. I saw the futon, but I also saw something I didn't see last time.

There was a dark-blue room-wear kimono. I stared at the room-wear kimono as I thought again, _I guess I could start wearing this. After all, I'm always sleeping in my clothes. Heh._

I pulled the futon out, and then the room-wear kimono. I set the futon up, and as it was straight enough, I undressed myself.

My hand picked up the other kimono, and I wrapped it around my body. When I was done, I found out that it fit me. I smiled at the room-wear kimono, and walked over to turn off the light. I went to the futon, and slid under the blanket.

While trying to sleep, I kept on thinking that I should've said "Tatsuma's room" to Mutsu. Now, I felt a little ashamed of myself, because Tatsuma probably expected me to sleep in the same room as he was.

I couldn't sleep, no matter how much I tried. I furrowed my brows, deciding to go to his room. I leaned up from the futon, and got out of the blanket. I didn't even bother to put it back, so I just left it there.

I pulled on the handle to the door, and opened it, walking out of the guest room. I then closed it, and began to walk towards Tatsuma's room. But there was one problem. I didn't know where his room was.

Because he has a crew in this ship, how was I supposed to know which room was Tatsuma's? Well, perhaps I could just knock on a random door, and ask someone where his room was.

_Yes, I could do that. After all, there're a lot of crew members in the Kaientai ship._

A small smile appeared on my lips as I wandered off in the hall. I turned around a corner, seeing a few headlights above me. At least it wasn't completely dark, otherwise I would be scared.

After a few moments of walking, I saw a door, that wasn't really a sliding one. I raised a brow at it, but walked towards it. I stared at the rectangular door as I mumbled, "Is this Tatsuma's room?" I was getting a little skeptical at that, but it didn't stop me from knocking.

I knocked on the door softly, and heard Tatsuma's voice, "Come in."

My eyes went a little wide. I pushed down the silver handle, and opened it, seeing Tatsuma in his bed without his sunglasses. His bed wasn't a futon, it was just a bed. He was under the sheets and blanket as he said, "I knew you would come to my room instead."

I asked, "Did Mutsu-San tell you?"

He smirked as he answered, "She did. But since you love me, I knew you would come here. And I see you're wearing your new room-wear kimono. Is it comfortable?"

I flushed a bit, but replied, "Y-Yes, it's very comfortable."

"Good." He patted his bed, as if he was telling me, 'Come here'. A gulp went down my throat, but I walked over to his big bed. I saw two windows, where I could see space clearly.

I was basically staring at the windows, but Tatsuma told me, "Those windows are thick, in case you were wondering." I looked at him as I was still going to his bed.

I finally sat down, but slid under the sheets. Tatsuma was wearing a dark-brown room-wear kimono, but his chest was starting to expose. When I took a good look at it, my cheeks flushed once more.

He landed his elbow on his pillow, and rested his cheek in his palm. I rested my head on my pillow.

I pulled the sheets to my chest, but saw that Tatsuma was still smirking at me. I asked with hesitation, "Wh-What is it?"

He chuckled, "Nothing. I love you, Rina-Chan."

My lips parted, but the corners of it curved up, forming a grin. I giggled, "I love you too, Tatsuma-San." I reached my hand, touching his cheek. He pulled his hand away from his face, but leaned over, kissing me on the lips softly.

My brown eyes closed for a couple of seconds before he drifted his lips away from mine. I opened my eyes half-way as he whispered, "Good-night."

I whispered back, "Good-night."

Tatsuma turned over, and turned off the lamp. The room was now dark, but as soon as Tatsuma lied down, I scooted over, getting closer to him.

Our bodies touched, and I rested my forehead on his chest.

I closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep. This time, I actually fell asleep.

I was glad I met him. And I'm glad that Tatsuma doesn't have to be lonely anymore.

**~End.~**

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**Oh my god, I'm finally done rewriting this! I'm so happy I did that!**

**I am thinking of making a sequel of this, but I want to wait on that.**

**I was actually amazed that a few people alerted/favored this! And I thought no one gave a shit about Tatsuma fics. XD Guess I was wrong! So thank you for reading this. As for my other old stories (That I never posted on this site), I don't plan on rewriting them, because I don't really feel like doing that. This is the only story that I'll ever rewrite.**

**Again, thank you for reading "Lovers' Ships"! :)**


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